That Little Fall of Rain
by Tr3ble-Maker
Summary: Things at the barricade change, and the odds are in Eponine's favor...there's really no good way to summarize this. Eponine/Marius
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! So this will mainly be from Eponine's point of view, unless otherwise stated. Just wanted to say that I'm not going to follow the EXACT plotline of Les Mis. The basic plot will be there, but I'm changing some stuff around, so no hate for that please!**

"Eponine!"

I turn around, my heart fluttering in my chest. I knew that voice. I would always know that voice. I put on my best smile and raised my chin. "Hi, Marius."

He is, of course, smiling. Marius is hardly ever sad, he has hardly even had the slightest tone of anger in his voice. Except when he was at the ABC meetings – I had listened in on one once. They talked about the French government in the loudest voices possible…then again, most of them were drunk.

"What's been going on?" He asks. Polite, but nothing more. Just as he always has been. There's never anything more.

I sigh. I should really give up on the dream that one day he'll run up to me and confess his feelings for me. All I want is for Marius to be happy, whether it involves me or not, but I can't help but think of how nice it would be if it DID involve me.

I shrugged. Things had been going on, but I didn't want to talk about them. Not to Marius.

I turn into the ally where I sleep on the days I don't want to go home and face my parents. They were relatively agreeable before we lost the inn, but now they snap at everything I say.

Marius knows that I sleep here sometimes. Occasionally, he offers to let me stay at his home for the night, but I always refuse. Honestly, I don't think I could handle it: being alone all night with him. As friends.

Suddenly I feel his hand on my shoulder. A million bolts of lightning race through me, and I want to jerk away and melt into him at the same time. The scene I have so perfectly planned out in my head races through my thoughts: him confessing, me confessing, kissing in the rain.

"Your sleeve fell down your shoulder," he says, pushing it back up. The harsh reality hits me, that he didn't feel any lightning.

Then I remember. "No, don't, I…"

But the sleeve is all the way up, and there is the bruise, and Marius is staring at it, half shocked and half scared. I stand completely still and watch his reaction carefully.

He looks up at me, and even though I really should let this go, I can't help but notice the genuine care in his voice. "Eponine, who did this to you."

It's a statement, not a question. I feel the hot tears prick at my eyes and I slowly turn away, sitting down on the crate that serves as my bed.

But Marius knows me too well. "Your father," he remarks, answering his own question.

Silent tears are rolling down my face now. "Marius, don't."

I hear him sit down next to me, and just him being there reminds me that it will be okay for now.

It's been an hour of sitting in silence, but we haven't moved. Nobody else is on the streets, just us in the ally. I plan on staying, and I don't know if Marius will.

As if he read my mind, Marius looks at me. "I'll stay here tonight, if that's okay."

I nod silently, and he lays down on the pavement.

I watch him as he does. I wish he felt the same way, but really, there's no way he can. He's made it clear that while we're friends, and will always be friends…well, that's it. We'll always be only friends.

The thought of any other person laying a hand on Marius…I want to break that person's teeth already, and the person doesn't even exist. Not for the first time, I think about everything I feel for him.

_I love him. I do. But he doesn't love me. Get over it. Leave and find somebody else. Without me, his world will go on turning._

A bitter, selfish thought came to her.

_A world that's full of happiness, that I have never known._

Marius's breathing is deep and even. He must be asleep, and must think I'm asleep.

"I love you," I whisper, barely audible.

He doesn't respond.

I already know I won't be sleeping tonight.

**Tell me what you think! It's kind of hard to write fanfiction in the first person, but I really want the emotions to be clear. The next chapter will be posted ASAP!**


	2. Chapter 2

The apple crunches between my teeth as I look at the streets of Paris. Marius is next to me, of course. We just woke up about an hour ago. Even though I could tell he wasn't thrilled to wake up next to trash and overturned crates, he was a perfect gentleman about it and pretended like it didn't bother him at all.

Anyways, now here we were, eating apples in the streets. People that passed us looked at us weirdly. The lady at the apple cart's stare was especially noticeable, so much that Marius noticed. As we were walking away, he leaned down and said, "Wow, you'd think we were dating or something."

I could just barely fake a laugh with all the tearing in my heart.

But the moment had passed, and now it's just us. Happy.

"Marius!" I hear a voice call from behind me. "Eponine!"

I turn around to see Enjolras, the leader of the ABC Society. As much as I love Marius, I will admit that Enjolras is also one of my closest friends. He may not act like it, but under the tough, "let's overthrow the government" exterior, he was one of the nicest people ever.

"Hi!" Marius and I said in unison.

"Are you two coming to the meeting tonight?" he asks. I can see the ABC Society pin peeking out from under his jacket, a little tuft of red, white, and navy.

Marius looks at me. "I am, are you?"

Even though I know it's not like he's asking me to go WITH him, I smile at the fact that he cares. "Yes, I think so."

Enjolras smiles, something that only happens about once a year. "Good. I have to go find the other members." He gestures at the apple I'm holding. "Where did you get that?"

I point down the street. "The cart over there."

"Excellent. Thanks." He nods at both of us and walks off in that direction.

I turn back to Marius. "I should be getting home, or…somewhere else…"

But he's not looking at me. He's staring across the street. I follow his gaze to a blonde girl, staring back at him. It doesn't hit me until I see the expression on his face.

Like lightning.

The same lightning I feel around him.

I can barely breathe. Does he know this girl? Are they secretly dating? Does he love her? Suddenly the imaginary girl from last night that loved Marius has become real. The urge to punch her perfectly white teeth out returns, along with a new urge to rip every blonde hair out of her scalp.

The man the girl is with ushers her away, and she steals one last glance at Marius before turning.

He turns to me, his face like a blazing sun. "Eponine, who was that girl?"

I honestly answer, "I don't know."

Suddenly, his hands are on my shoulders and he's holding me closer. I almost forget about the blonde girl for a few seconds. "Eponine, can I ask you something?"

_Oh my God, what if he says it? What if he says he loves me? Of course he won't, but just imagine if he did. Imagine if he told me that he wanted to be with me for the rest of my life._

"Yes, of course," I say, not caring that I can't hide my happiness.

"Can you find out where she lives?" he asks.

And there it goes. My heart plummets like it jumped off the bridge of the Seine.

_You want Marius to be happy, _I convince myself. _That's what love is about. You want them to be happy, even if you're not a part of their happiness. If I love Marius, I'll say…_

"Yes. I'll try." I hear myself say.

"Thank you, Eponine." He says breathlessly. Then, inexplicably, he runs off.

My breath catches. He left without any notice of me. Not even a goodbye.

_You'll do it, Eponine, _I tell myself. _You'll do it for Marius. Because you love him._

I go off in the direction the blonde girl and the man went, looking back and forth. Maybe I want to find them, maybe I don't. But Marius does, so I will.

Then I see her. Her blue hat and waves of hair swish as she turns to the side. I get a full look at her: wide eyes that are bright bluish gray, white smile, obviously rich. The hatred gets a little more deep set, but I push it aside and keep following her.

Eventually they come to a house, clad in ivy. The man takes a key out of his pocket and opens a huge iron gate, and they go in and lock it behind them.

The walk was short enough that I can remember it and lead Marius to it this evening. I leave and walk down the short ally that had lead to it. The ally reminds me of last night, how convinced I was that he could actually love me.

And now I'm on my own.

**Thanks for everybody that followed and reviewed! The next chapter will be posted as soon as possible. Review this one if you like what I did with Eponine's point of view.**


	3. Chapter 3

I've never seen Marius so thrilled.

"Thank you so much, Eponine! God bless you! If there is any way I can repay you…"

"I know, it's fine." I cut him off quickly. I walk faster down the pathway to the girl's house, just wanting to get this over with. Maybe he won't actually love her. Who falls in love with just a glance, anyways?

I can hear Marius whispering to himself behind me, or maybe he's addressing me. "She has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun."

I close my eyes and exhale the pain away.

But he's not done yet. "And my life seems to stop as if something is over and something has scarcely begun."

He says this when we are in the clearing outside the girl's house, and it strikes me to the bone. What is "over"? I'm over? Anything we had between us is over?

Suddenly, he's holding my hands and spinning me in circles. "Eponine, you're the friend who has brought me here! Thanks to you, I am one with the gods and heaven is near!"

I can't help but laugh as he spins me around the stone pathway near the iron gate. Maybe, just maybe, I'm what's begun?

But then he breaks away, leaving me leaning against the entrance to the gate, staring after him.

"And I soar through a world that is new, that is free!" he says, curling his fingers around the twists and turns of the iron gate.

A new world. I'm not new, I've always been here.

_Every word that he says is a dagger in me, _I think as I watch him hopefully stare in. _In my life, there's been no one like him anywhere, anywhere where he is. If he asked, I'd be his._

Suddenly, there's a flash of movement at the gate, and I look up and see her. I'm repulsed by her beauty, her high and clear voice. They're saying things to each other, but I choose to tune it all out. I do catch "Oh god, for shame, I do not even know your name." Damn right he should be ashamed. He says he loves the girl, but calls her "the blonde girl".

I turn to them just as Marius introduces himself.

"My name is Marius Pontmercy." He says to her, an unmistakable smile on his face that means love.

"And mine's Cosette." She says lightly.

I nearly fall over. Cosette…we were children together! The slave in our house that Gavroche sympathized with but I pretty much ignored. The one that dressed in rags. The one my mother and father abused, which I let go on because at least it wasn't me. The day a mysterious man came and bought her a fantastic doll…oh God, the man she lives with! It must be the same one that paid fifteen hundred francs for her almost ten years ago! I feel idiotic that I only just realized this.

I jerk out of my trance to hear him say the worst possible words to her, "A heart full of love."

He's obviously not listening to me, so I just whisper it to myself, to make sure I haven't died of the pain. "He was never mine to lose," I say breathily.

"A heart full of you," Cosette replies. I picture her in the rags again.

"Why regret what cannot be?" I question, looking at the ivy crawling up the wall. I picture it strangling Cosette, wrapping around her perfectly slender neck.

"A single look, and then I knew," Marius says, laughing. I see their fingers touch through the gate and inhale sharply, willing myself not to cry.

I know Cosette knows I'm here, but I doubt she knows who I am. I stare directly at her and say under my breath, "These are words he'll never say. Not to me."

I cut them off in the middle of their talking and walk up. "Marius, can you find your way back?" I ask, feeling Cosette's eyes on me, looking me top to bottom.

"Oh, yes," Marius says, as if waking up from a dream. "Thank you, Eponine."

Realization dawns on Cosette's face, and she looks at me with new interest. I give her my best death glare and a small nod to let her know that yes, I am who she thinks I am.

I walk out of the actual clearing calmly, then once I know they can't see me, I let the emotions out. Even though I know I shouldn't, the stone wall is right there and I slam my fist into it.

The blood immediately begins to flow out of the joints in my fingers, and even though it hurts like hell, it feels less painful than watching Marius fall for Cosette.

**The next chapter will either be posted tonight or tomorrow, I promise! Do you guys like the thing I did with the lyrics of **_**In My Life**_** and **_**A Heart Full of Love**_**? I thought the song really expressed everything going on in the situation, so why write all new stuff right? Anyways I should get to work on the next chapter, review if you liked this one! And if you follow me I'll check out some of your fanfics!**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter will be from Marius's point of view. The next one will go back to Eponine, and there might be a Cosette chapter in the future. Anyways, I've done enough talking. Enjoy!**

Marius's POV

Cosette's father calls her, and she whispers her goodbye and runs off through the garden, leaving my fingers still curled around the iron of the gate.

I turn around to see Eponine, but remember that she left.

"Never asked her where she was sleeping tonight," I mutter to myself. Street or home? I walk down the alley, thinking of Cosette.

Cosette. The name just rolls off my tounge like the best delicacies in France. I love her, I'm sure. Well, I don't really know what love feels like. The only girls I've ever really interacted with are waitresses, occasional street girls, and Eponine, of course. Eponine the most.

Maybe I love Cosette, but maybe I'm still trying to figure everything out. For now, I have to find Eponine. If she's sleeping in the streets again, then things must have gotten bad at home.

When I step out on the streets, I go to the normal ally that Eponine would be in. It's scary how close we are. If I found Eponine in my house at midnight, it wouldn't strike me as weird at all. She knows where my keys are, where the ABC Society meets, who my friends are…

"Give it to me, girl," I hear a rascally voice sneer. I know that voice.

"Thenardier," I whisper.

No doubt, the voice next is Eponine's. "Father, just let me go. I'll get the money, I promise."

I peer around the corner and see her surrounded by the men of her father's gang, all armed. She's already got blood pouring from her knuckles, and I'm filled with at the thought of what they might be doing to her.

"Damn right you will," another man spits out, shoving her shoulder so hard that she falls against a wall.

Like always, I have a deep-seated anger for the men that abuse Eponine daily, forcing her into the role of the twig-thin street rat that sleeps on overturned crates. But last time I tried to intervene, I only got a bruise on my arm. Eponine was actually treated worse after that one, and she made me promise that I'd never do it again, that I'd let her handle it. I grudgingly agreed.

"You know, girl, you could make this up twice as fast if you'd just go down to the docks." Another man growls at her.

I'd seen the docks before. It was where the prostitutes gathered at night to make love to people in the hallows of old ships. Shivering, sniveling ladies that were more than willing to rip their clothes off for a few francs. Eponine would never stoop that low; she would do anything but sell herself.

"I've told you, I won't be like that," she exclaims roughly.

I hear the sickening slap of skin on skin, and then press myself to the wall as the men leave. When I enter the ally Eponine is on an overturned crate, sobbing.

I've never seen her like this. I saw her cry a few tears from time to time, last night included, but seeing her like this makes my chest throb. The men that make her do this…if they had any sense they'd turn those guns on themselves. Horrible, choking noises come out of her throat, and I know she's hurting and would rather be alone, but I can't bring myself to leave her. Seeing her sob like this…I'm surprised that I'm not crying too.

I step closer, and she practically runs away. _She must think I'm one of the men, come back for her_, I think.

"Marius," she says through the tears. "How long have you been there?"

"The whole time," I admit. "Look, Eponine..."

"I don't need your sympathy, Monsieur." She spits out, looking at her feet. Her voice is thick.

I step back, sensing the anger in her voice. Not at me, just at the world. "If you ever need to talk…"

Then she inexplicably laughs. I'm confused until she lifts her head. The sight of the bruise forming on her cheek almost makes me lose the control I've been using up. I just want to wrap my arms around her and tell her that it will be okay, even though it won't be.

When she finishes laughing, she looks me in the eye. "But you don't need me, Monsieur. You have your lovely Cosette, and she's got a heart full of love for you," she drawls sarcastically.

Who said Cosette was a part of this? "Eponine, I don't think…"

The sobs are back, racking her body. She sits back down on the ground. "Just leave me alone, Pontmercy."

The words sting. The way she addresses me by my last name is the best attempt at a way to close herself off to me. _Don't leave, she needs you, or at least someone to comfort her, _I tell myself.

Looks like I'm sleeping in the gutter again tonight. I sit down next to her and do just what I wanted to: wrap my arms around her. She visibly relaxes, although still crying uncontrollably. "Don't tell me it will be okay, Marius," she whispers.

"I know," I say. "But I will tell you that I think you're better than what those men say you are. You don't need to sell yourself, or even get them this money. You deserve better."

She doesn't make a sound, but her crying lessens until there are just sharp, watery inhales every now and then.

I don't move, she doesn't move. And that's how it's going to stay for the rest of the night.

**GAH MY FEELS. Oh how I love the Eponine/Marius fluff. Anyways, who knows when I'll post the next chapter, so no promises, but I will have time this weekend. The next chapter will be much lengthier and have more depth to it, so prepare yourselves! Review and follow and all that, because reviews will make the flowers grow! (Bad pun. It needs some Work….Song…yeah I should stop)**


	5. Chapter 5

**We're back to Eponine's point of view, my friends. I might get another chapter in today after this one if I write like the speed of light, as I plan on making this one slightly longer. Yes, we have come to the fateful One Day More scene where Marius decides to go to the barricade. And no, there will not be any more cliché song quoting.**

I wake up in Marius's arms, not remembering how I got there, but not protesting in the slightest. Looking down at my hand, I see that the bleeding has stopped, but there are ugly streaks of burgundy running down my hand that I should probably wash off. There's probably a bruise on my face from Montparnesse, too.

I slowly look up at Marius, who is actually awake, looking down at me. "Morning, 'Ponine."

I sit up quickly, not sure how to take the situation. "Morning, Monsieur. You didn't have to stay all night."

Marius laughs. "I thought I told you, you don't need to call me Monsieur. And I wanted to."

I sit up farther and brush off my skirt. "Well, MARIUS, I should probably go pickpocket the rich bastards and get it to my father," I say sarcastically.

He stands up awkwardly. "Can I just lend you some…"

"NO, Marius. I told you, I'm going to do this on my own," I snap, stalking out of the ally and into the streets.

It's probably not the nicest reaction, considering that even though I had basically screamed at him last night, he still stayed with me. But I don't want to drag Marius into any situation that involves my father. It nearly killed me to see my father punch him last time he intervened. After that, I made him promise to stay away, that I could handle it.

I go right to the most expensive cart of food, where a few people are gathered around. I slow my walk and reach into the nearest one's pocket, finding a small bag of who knows what. I pluck it out and keep going at the same pace so I'm not suspicious.

Slipping into the nearest ally, I open the bag to find a ten francs and ten sous. Not bad, actually. It sometimes takes me three people to get that much.

I don't feel that bad about taking from the rich, because they're going back to their warm houses and drawers full of gold Napoleons and francs. A few meager coins won't faze them at all.

I can't help but smile at the fact that if I only steal from one more person, Father will be more than pleased. I can sleep in my bed tonight without being worried that he'll find me there and break my limbs.

I stuff the bag in the pocket of my coat whose sleeves are too short and walk back out on the streets. Then I see two people, dressed like they were going to a ball with perfect hair. Possibly the two richest people I could see in the ten mile radius. In fact, was the girl bending down to that little boy? Yes! She was handing a street boy a sou!

If you can walk around and give out money to whomever you please without any problems, then you won't miss a few francs. I walk up straight behind her the man, making sure that the girl is well in front of him so that she can't see. Sure enough, I can hear the man's pockets jangling loudly. I slip my thumb and forefinger in and pull out three coins between my fingers, quickly pocketing them. Waiting for a few more seconds, I reached in for one more and turned quickly in the other direction before they knew what hit them.

In another ally, I look at them. Five francs. There's no way Father can be mad at me for this.

I look out onto the street and see him surrounded by the gang. It's a miracle that the Inspector hasn't done anything about them, really.

Mustering up any sanity and bravery I have left, I stroll across the street to them. "Father, I have the money you want."

The members turn and face me, almost amused. "Do you?" one drawls, obviously drunk.

Drunk is a bad sign. I unconsciously step away and pull the money out of my pocket. "Fifteen francs and five sous. Double what I normally get."

Father grabs the money roughly from my hands and fingers it. "You get a particularly good customer?" he asks.

I roll my eyes. "I told you, I'm not going to become a 'lovely lady' down at the docks," I snap, putting air quotes around the words 'lovely lady'.

Montparnesse takes a coin and shoves it in his pocket. "She done good," he says gruffly, without any expression.

Father refuses to give me that blessing, though. "Whatever. On your way," he says, waving me off.

I walk away smiling. For one day, I have a victory. Sleeping in an actual bed without having to fear for my life should be nice, even if it only lasts the night. Even better, little does Father know, I actually got seventeen francs. The sound of the two francs jingling in my pocket makes me skip a little, and I go over to the baker and buy a small roll for one franc.

Tearing at the warm bread, I walk down into the nearest ally. I've always hated eating in the middle of the streets, basically because I've played the role of the starving person on the street, jealously looking at the people eating. I promised myself that I would never make anybody feel that way if I got a good amount of food.

Suddenly the ally ends in a clearing paved with stones, and I can hear quiet crying. Then I remember: this is the ally that leads to Cosette's house.

Fantastic.

I look around for the source of the crying, and see a person against the farthest stone pillar. His fingers are curled around the iron gate.

Then I remember who curled their fingers around the gate just like that last night.

"Marius?" I ask incredulously.

He doesn't look up, but he brushed the back of his hand across his eyes. "She's gone."

I walk over and kneel on the ground in front of him. "Who's gone."

He looks up, and I see just how upset he is. Then it all comes together in my mind. Cosette's house. Crying. She's gone.

"Cosette and her father left," he says, stammering over the word left.

My heart soars in my chest, but I repress the urge for Marius's sake. "Without a word?"

He looks at me, almost laughing. "I searched everywhere. I tried to break in to see if she had left me something. But trust me, Eponine, there's no sign of them."

I remember walking in the streets earlier. "But…it doesn't make sense."

"I know it doesn't," Marius says, standing up. "I don't know what I'm going to do without her."

_Gee, I don't know, Marius. Two days ago you didn't love her, why don't you just start from there? _I think. _No matter what I do in this life, I will never declare my feelings for anybody until I actually know their name. _

But for Marius's sake, I can't say that. Maybe he really did love her. Then it dawns on me – the person he loves is gone at the drop of a hat.

_Maybe this is my chance._

"What are you going to do?" I ask.

Suddenly, he stands up with new intensity. "I can't go on without her, Eponine. I'm going to fight in the revolution."

I whirl around to him. "What? Marius, you always said that you were just helping them with a few strategies. You said you wouldn't fight."

_That, and I couldn't stand to see you walk off to your death without telling you that I love you._

Marius's crying has subsidized. "Eponine, if I can't have Cosette, then maybe this is the best way to end it between us."

A million emotions overcome me. _End it? It's been TWO DAYS. Two days and you're already thinking of dying for the girl whose name you learned less than one day ago. There is nothing between you, nothing but that iron gate._

But even though that Marius is being practically the thickest person I have ever met at the moment, I am impressed by his bravery.

Suddenly, his hand is in mine. I look up at him and find his eyes, his perfect brown eyes, like the hot chocolate Father once bought me when I was little.

"'Ponine, come to the Friends of the ABC meeting with me. Please. I want you to be there when I tell them," he says with alarming intensity.

I nod, and we run out of the ally, away from Cosette's house.

We both burst in the door, getting strange looks from the people gathered, who must have just been in the middle of a meeting. We must look pretty ridiculous, bursting in here out of breath. But I'm smiling and Marius is smiling.

Then I notice that everybody is eyeing something between us. I look down at the same time Marius does and realized that we never let go of our hands.

Grantaire, with a half full bottle in his hand, staggers over. "I see we have a pair of lovebirds, do we?"

"No," Marius and I say at the same time, yanking our hands back. (Although, I can't say I'm not pleased by the blush rising on his cheeks, like I know mine must be.)

Enjolras steps forward. "We missed you both at the last meeting."

That was the night that we were at Cosette's house. "We had things to do," Marius explained.

Grantaire made an "ooooooh" noise, implying that the "things" we had to "do" were each other.

Marius looked at him angrily. "Not those kinds of 'things', Grantaire."

Joly grabbed Grantaire by the shoulder and yanked him backwards. "You've had one bottle too many," he says angrily, ripping the drink from the drunk's tight grasp.

Enjolras sat down next to Gavroche, who I waved at. He made a heart with his hands back, and I gave him a warning glance, checking to make sure Marius hadn't seen. Enjolras looked at all of us, then shrugged. "So, we decided that the revolution starts tomorrow."

"What?" I practically scream, stepping forward.

Enjolras averts his attention to me. "Somebody would have known that if somebody was at the meeting."

I sigh. "Well, somebody is sorry for that."

Enjolras gives me a half smile, then turns to Marius. "So what's so important? Is something on fire?"

Marius grins at me, and the flicker of hope returns. Then I remember what he's about to announce.

He addresses the entire café. "My place is here, I fight with you!"

They all raise their glasses and cheer, and I feign a good excited face. Maybe I could think that Marius could like me.

If he would live to see the next evening.

**Slightly longer chapter than usual! Anyways, the next one will be the barricade chapter, and that one will probably be muuuuuch longer. Review and favorite if you liked it! I'll try to do another chapter this weekend, but believe it or not, I actually have a LIFE! And FRIENDS! :O I hope you're not too shocked by that. Anyways, psyche yourself up for the next chapter, I'll be listening to the Original Broadway Cast soundtrack of Les Mis for inspiration.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this one took so long, I had to fit a lot in this one! Yes, I don't follow the exact plot of Les Mis ( as you can probably tell, there was no letter from Cosette), so don't explode at me for that.**

I burst into my house, running straight past Father and Mother, even though I know they will leave me alone for tonight. My vision is sort of a haze as I run through the house, not knowing where I'm going to end up. When the haze goes away, I find myself panting and crying in the middle of my room.

_How could he do this? He can't possibly just want to throw everything away. He actually has a future, he can't die. No, I can't watch him do this. He doesn't deserve to die, with his career, his friends, and…Cosette. I should die. It'd be better for everybody if I did._

I mull over the last two thoughts, sitting on my bed and wiping away the tears. I know where they're going to be tomorrow, I know who they've placed to build the barricade, I even know where they're going to begin it: at General Lamarque's funeral ceremony. If I went in Marius's place…

No, forget that. Marius would never let me do that. Despite all of his shallow, empty "feelings" for Cosette, he does care about me. Not to the extent that I care for him, but to some sort of extent. Still, I can't let him just walk out of my life forever. Everybody at that barricade will most likely die, or be seriously injured. If Marius dies…

_No, stop that, Eponine, _I tell myself, still sitting on the bed fingering my threadbare chemise. _If Marius dies, your life has no more meaning. You might as well die._

_You might as well die._

Then it hits me. I run to my closet and pull out my cap and my father's old shirt and pants that I wear when I need to disguise myself and start tugging everything on. Somewhere during it, I start unconsciously whispering to myself. "I'll go to the barricade, and if I die, then I die and I'll be freed from all this pain. If both Marius and I die, then there's really no harm done. If only Marius dies…I won't let Marius die. I won't let it happen."

By now, I've knotted up my chemise so that it comes to my hips and can be covered by my shirt. I step into the pants and put on my normal tattered shoes, seeing that I have no other pairs to wear.

I'm crying at the thought of throwing my life away, of the fact that Marius is throwing his life away. It gets to a point where I'm sitting against the wall, shuddering, talking to myself again.

"One more day all on my own."

I pull my arms into the sleeve of the shirt.

"One more day with him not caring."

The fabric is long enough to caress the tops of my thighs.

"What a life I might have known"

I pull the pants on and tuck the extra fabric of the shirt into them.

"But he never saw me there."

Finally, my hair is roughly shoved into the cap, and I look around the room, knowing that I most likely will never come back.

Father and Mother question nothing as I slip out the door; not my attire or my reasoning. Good thing, too. I don't plan on saying goodbye to anybody.

-page break-

"We need more chairs!" I hear Enjolras scream amidst the chaos.

It's all I can do to dodge the flying objects. Marius hasn't seen me yet, and that's how I plan it. To die silently, unnoticed by him. That way, for the rest of his life, he can at least live in the hopes that I'm out there, somewhere, alive. Unless he forgets me entirely and goes straight out to find Cosette.

I ignore the thought and continue to throw down whatever I can find, from a simple loose floorboard to helping (a surprisingly sober) Grantaire push a dining room table out of the wall.

The barricade is towering at least seven meters high, so I don't see how anything else we push out won't be instantly thrown off. But Enjolras said to keep throwing things until he told us to stop or until the room is out of furniture.

I hear Combeferre's voice ring out. "Enjolras gave the signal! Quietly, to the barricade!"

Slowly, everybody stops throwing furniture and files down to behind the barricade.

At the bottom, I feel a hand on my shoulder and whirl around. Enjolras stares at me like he can't quite believe it. I immediately look at the ground, even though he's already seen me.

"Eponine," he whispers, pulling me aside, "what are you doing here?"

"I want to fight," I say plainly. Even though that's not the only reason…actually, it wasn't a reason to begin with. But what am I supposed to say?_ Well, I plan on either dying without Marius, or dying with Marius. If I live, well, I'll figure that out later!_

Enjolras stares at me like I just informed him that I want to chop off my own head. "You can't be here! You've never said anything about wanting to fight before. And everybody agreed, no girls! We barely let Gavroche in!"

I sneak a glance over at Marius, who's loading his rifle and nervously looking over the top of the barricade. A flash of fear runs through me, and I look back at Enjolras. "I want to fight," I repeat stupidly.

Enjolras follows my gaze over to Marius and sighs. "Eponine, if this is about Pontmercy…"

I blush madly. "Um…"

Enjolras shakes his head. "Eponine, you're crazy. Are you planning on him falling in love with you while you're being shot in the head?"

On a few occasions, I has confided in Enjolras about my feelings for Marius. Not extensively, but he certainly knows about it. "Look, we all know Marius will be killed."

Enjolras gets defensive. "It's for the greater cause of the revolution if he does."

I pull Enjolras farther away before people start getting suspicious. Joly is already looking over his shoulder at us. "Please let me do this, Enjolras."

He sighs and looks around at the barricade.

"They're coming!" Grantaire yells above the chaos. "They're approaching the barricade!"

Everybody jumps into position, holding rifles at the ready. Enjolras looks at me one more time, knowing he has to get to the barricade. He lets out a sigh of relent and gives me his extra rifle, already loaded.

I grin at him. "Thank you, Monsieur."

I jump at the only empty spot left, luckily far from Marius. Even though this is for him, I don't want him to be distracted.

Through the spaces between the furniture, I see the red-and-navy-clad soldiers lining up. _Damn it, they have cannons. And at least five times as many people._

For the first time in twelve hours, I'm afraid. Afraid about not being able to make a stand, about my brother standing on the barricade, about Marius dying, about Enjolras dying, even about Grantaire dying. Strangely, there's nothing there about my death in that ocean of fear I'm drowning in.

The leading soldier cries out over the silence. "Who's there?"

Everybody looks up at Enjolras, who looks back at us, giving one of his rare smiles. Then he turns back to the soldiers, facing them proudly. "The French revolution!"

"FIRE!"

The air is transformed into a hail of bullets. I've never held a gun before, but I've seen Father do it a million times. I try to mimic everything I've seen him do, and somehow I manage to pull the trigger and send one flying. A soldier goes down directly in front of me and I see him clutch his shoulder. He's not dead, but he drops his gun, so I guess that he can't fight. Even though it's a small victory compared to the dead bodies around him, I smile to myself.

I hear a thud behind me, and whirl around to see the body of Grantaire crash behind me.

"GRANTAIRE!" I can't help but scream. I abandon the task at hand and scramble over to him, still on my knees. I promised myself I wouldn't cry, but when I roll him over and see the bullet hole in the center of his chest, plus the open, unblinking eyes frozen in a look of fear, I can barely stop myself from collapsing on top of him, much less crying.

"Eponine? What are you doing here?" I hear a voice call down. I look up to see Gavroche hopping down from the barricade. "You're not supposed to be here."

I wipe my eyes with the too-long sleeves on my shirt. "Gav, let me do this."

He looks around, then shoves his gun through a hole in the barricade and fires at an advancing soldier, who goes down immediately, dead. I look at him in shock. "How did you do that?"

Gavroche hops back down. "Sis, ask questions later. After you GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

I look back at Grantaire. The same fate is awaiting all of us, Enjolras didn't deny it. Sighing, I stare Gavroche in the eye. "I'm going to do this. For Marius."

He sighs, strolling off (surprisingly slow for the terms of the situation). "Always going on about Pontmercy," he groaned.

I picked up Grantaire with a little struggle and set him down inside the now empty café. "I'm sorry," I whisper. When I turn around, I see the half empty bottle of beer inexplicably near the wall. I walk over to it, pick it up, and set it down in its rightful place: Grantaire's hand.

The sound of a cannon whisks me back to my rifle at the barricade. The air is thick with smoke and I blindly step over fallen items. Whether they're bodies or pieces of wood, I'll never know. Back at my hole in the barricade, I look out to see that the soldiers have started to climb it. My aim still isn't very good, but I manage a few leg shots, successfully stalling them.

Looking up, I see that the soldiers have multiple wounds, but have still climbed the barricade. Some people I don't know are fighting them with swords, and I know they'll be next to go. Next to them, a soldier is taking great care in aiming at the left side of the barricade. I follow the aim of his gun to see it pointed at one of the students who took a break to reload his gun, a relatively young one. The student looks up and glances the other way, his brown hair and eyes glistening in the light of the fire that just appeared.

Marius.

Before I know what's happening, I was in front of the soldier, trying to shove the gun in the other direction. The soldier shoots anyways, and I manage to shift the gun slightly to the right, and there's no scream of pain behind me. I smile victoriously. Marius is still alive.

I reach down for my gun, and then I see it. The hole ripped through my shoulder.

I fall at the sight of it, leaning against a chair at the base of the barricade. Marius is at the top of the barricade, holding a torch near a jug-like container of gunpowder.

"And yourself with it," I hear the lead soldier say.

Marius smiles, almost mockingly. "And I with it."

"RETREAT! RETREAT!" the soldier shouts, and I hear the troops leave.

"They'll be back," I hear Enjolras say. "They'll be back in the morning."

Marius hops down from the barricade, smiling victoriously. He starts to walk to the café but trips over my boot.

_Don't see me, _I think. _I don't want you to spend your life grieving me. Just go. Find Cosette. I give you permission to love Cosette, and I won't stop you._

But it's too late, he's looking down at me, shocked. "What…'Ponine?" he asks, almost incredulously.

The rest of the students turn around, and all but Enjolras and Gavroche are surprised to see me laying there. Of course, the calmness goes away when they see the blood.

"Oh good God, 'Ponine, why are you here? What did they do? Why…?" He trails off and falls to his knees in front of me, taking me in his arms.

_If I do have to die, this isn't so bad, _I think.

"Marius," I try to say, but there's a strange feeling in my throat, like a corset laced too tight. "When I die…"

"You're not going to die, 'Ponine," Marius stammers.

_Is he crying? Is he hurt? No, it's about me…_

"When I die," I continue, slightly stronger. My vision is starting to waver, but I don't think anything of it. I knew what I was getting into coming into this. "…Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead. Somehow, I shall feel it." He nods, and one of his tears fall on my face. As if on cue, the rain starts falling down onto the barricade. The men should be moving the gunpowder on, but they're all fixated on me and Marius.

"Thank you, Monsieur," I whisper, even though it takes every effort in my body.

He almost smiles. "Marius."

I don't have the life in me to smile. "Marius," I manage.

He's the last thing I see.

**Marius's POV**

I press my lips on the spot between her eyebrows, remembering my promise. When I look up at the sky, I see Joly standing over us. "She's still breathing," he notes.

"Please," I say, gasping on the tears. "Joly, can you save her?"

Joly nods, pursing his lips. "I can try."

I pass her limp body up to him, and he walks towards the café. "Wait!" I call after him.

He turns around, and the gaping hole in 'Ponine's shoulder reminds me of how dire the situation is. "Don't take her into the café. If they come back, she'll never…"

He cuts me off, nodding. "Can I take her back to your place?"

I nod assent, watching him carry her off. Enjolras comes up to me and pats me on the shoulder. "She'll be okay. Joly's a miracle worker."

I inhale sharply and wipe away the tears. There's been a lot of crying in the last few days. "I know, it's just…"

Enjolras nods, and I know I don't need to explain. I look up at the other boys, who are looking at me sympathetically. All but Gavroche and Feuilly; Gavroche is practically hysterical, and he's in Feuilly's lap, who's comforting him. Of course, seeing his sister shot would be the only thing to dissuade him from fighting.

I look at Enjolras apologetically. "Enjolras, I have to go to her."

He nods assent. "I know. Take Gavroche with you."

We walk over to Gavroche. Feuilly gives him up, and I put him on my back. His crying is more pronounced in my ear. "Will you guys be okay?" I ask Enjolras.

He looks me in the eye. "No. None of us will be."

I nod and walk off with Gavroche to my house.

**Okay this took me FOUR AND A HALF FUDGING HOURS TO WRITE. Not that I'm complaining. We'll be getting into the actual Eponine and Marius stuff soon, but I doubt I'll get another chapter in today or tomorrow. If I do, it won't be nearly as long. Review if you like my DRAMATIC MOMENTS. (But seriously I think they're pretty damn dramatic.) If you review and you have any Les Mis fanfics, I promise that I'll check them out!**


	7. Chapter 7

Heaven feels a lot like a bed. A bed with fluffy pillows and soft sheets of a material I can't even name. When Marius gets here one day, I will definitely tell him about how comfortable it is here. I stir in the sheets, or maybe the cloud.

"Hey, look who's awake?" I hear a few feet to my left.

I look to the side and see Joly with a leather-bound book and a cup of tea.

"Joly?" I ask. "Did you die at the barricade too?"

He laughs and sits in a chair near the bed. "No, and neither did you."

Everything comes flooding back. The shot fired. Throwing myself in front of Marius. Dying – or thinking I was dying – in Marius's arms. Then blackness. I try to sit up, but the searing burn in my shoulder leaves me gasping on the mattress.

Joly starts flipping through the book. "Yeah, I wouldn't recommend sitting up without any help."

I eye him sarcastically. "Well, then, can I get some help?"

He leaves the book on the bedside table and slides his arms under my ribcage. I whimper in pain as my back makes a sudden contact with the headboard.

Joly passes me the cup of tea and I gratefully take a sip. "So what happened?" I ask.

"Well, the bullet definitely went in hard, but I got it out. From what I can tell, it didn't strike bone, but I think you should still have a few days of bed rest. Before we left, Marius said that you can stay in his room for a few days," Joly explained.

I almost spill the tea all over the bed. "Marius, is he…"

Joly smiles down at the book. "He's downstairs."

I exhale in relief, and then look suspiciously at his smile. "What?"

He laughs at the book. "It's a miracle Pontmercy hasn't noticed anything."

I look away, blushing. I had no idea that people could read me like this. "Well, according to Gavroche, Combeferre knows too, so go talk to him about hysterical it is."

The smile is wiped clean off Joly's face, and he closes the book.

"What?" I ask.

He looks up at me apologetically. "Combeferre is...he was…"

I look up at him, remembering everybody at the barricade. "Oh."

We sit in silence for a few seconds before I work up the courage to ask, "Anyone else?"

"Feuilly, Courfeyac, Grantaire, and Jehan," he says, and I know that I shouldn't ask any more questions.

"But Enjolras, Lesgles, and Marius are okay," I sigh, relieved.

"Enjolras is injured, he got shot in the leg. And a bullet grazed Marius, but it was barely anything. I sewed it up in about ten minutes," Joly explains.

I put on my best nonchalant face. "So, where is Marius?"

Joly smiles at me and leans in. "Well, I left him downstairs, but I'm ninety-nine percent sure that he's eavesdropping outside right now," he whispers. Then he looks over at the door, and I stifle a laugh.

He looks back wickedly. "Say something random about the barricade, I'm gonna surprise him."

Joly gets up and starts tiptoeing towards the door. I grin and start talking. "So how long did the fight at the barricade last? I only remember the first part."

By now, Joly has his hand around the door handle. He raises his hand and puts up three fingers, then puts them down one by one to count down. Then he rips the door open, and Marius indeed stumbles inside with his hands pressed against the door. He's so taken aback that he ends up sprawled on the floor, and Joly and I double over laughing.

"This is not funny, you guys!" Marius protests from the floor, his face going red.

Joly gulps in air, only to collapse in laughter again. "Hear anything you like, Marius?"

I laugh harder, but immediately feel the pain resonate in my shoulder. I wince, and everybody immediately stops.

Marius scrambles up from the floor and sits at the end of the bed. "How are you feeling, 'Ponine?"

I purse my lips and look down. "I've been better."

He sighs and looks down. "You didn't have to do…" he gestures at my shoulder. "That."

Now it's my turn to be embarrassed. "I…I know."

He looks up and smiles genuinely. "But thank you. If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead."

I smile at the bedsheets.

"Well," I hear from the door. I had forgotten Joly was there. "I'm going to go…check in on Enjolras."

"Oh, where is he? Is he here?" I ask.

Marius looks at me with an expression I can't read.

"No, he's in his apartment down the street," Joly explains. He looks from Marius to me. "You two will be okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Marius says.

"Okay. I'll be back in an hour…" he looks between Marius and I. "Or two."

Marius shoots him a death glare as he walks out, then turns back to me. "So…'Ponine at the barricade."

I smile. "Yeah."

"Why?" he asks. "And why wouldn't you tell me you were going to the barricade?"

"Um…" I say, stalling.

He looks at me questioningly, and I can tell he's not going to let this one go.

"I wanted to fight," I say, the same stupid explanation I gave to Enjolras.

Marius laughs. "Yeah, okay, 'Ponine."

I look at him defensively. "Well, did YOU really want to go to the barricade?"

He gets up from the bed and runs his fingers through his hair. "I…no."

"Well then why were YOU there? If you weren't there, I wouldn't have been there," I protest. There's no way he's having the last word in this.

Marius turns around, surprised. "What do you mean, if I wasn't there?"

I take a sip of the tea to stall, but it's gotten too cold and I barely choke it down. While I do it, Marius sits on the opposite side of the bed instead of the end, so we're side by side. I can see the bandages where the bullet grazed his left hand and suddenly realize how close he is to me.

"I went there…to make sure that you would be okay," I explain, hoping that it doesn't sound the way that it really is.

He laughs, which gets me mad. "That's insane, 'Ponine."

I try to awkwardly turn myself so I can face him, but my shoulder doesn't take the twisting very well and I unconsciously let out a yelp of pain. Marius reaches across me and puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me, but doesn't pull it away.

I look up at him as he looks down at me, the same chocolate eyes I stared into when I got the wound in the first place. _Stop it, Eponine. You told yourself that you gave him permission to love Cosette. That means that he doesn't love you and you don't love him. Anymore. And if you do, you keep it a secret. You know damn well that he's going to leave in a few hours to see Cosette, he's not going to stay with you._

But I can't stop myself; I start leaning in at the same time he does. Our lips meet for only an instant, barely a second, but it's there. This is no pity kiss, and nothing like the barricade when I was blacking out and could barely feel it. This is real, and it's here. When we pull away, I keep staring into his eyes. His hand hasn't moved from my shoulder.

The door suddenly crashes open and Joly bursts in. I scream out of shock and pull away from Marius, then scream on the strain it exerts on my shoulder. Marius scrambles off of the bed, getting his legs tangled in the sheets, which brings him to the floor.

Joly stands there, looking at us both. "Um…Enjolras is healed and he's coming here soon…" he reports.

"Great," I say quickly.

Joly nods at me, then looks over at Marius, who is beet red and still tangled in the sheets on the floor. "Marius, do you need any help there?"

Marius finally pushes the sheets off of his legs and stands up, smoothing out his jacket. "No. Fine. Thanks."

Joly looks between us both. I sit with my hands clasped (and no doubt my face burning, I can feel it), trying to maintain a picture of innocence. "Right," he finally says. "Well, Marius, I have to redress her wounds, if you don't mind…" he gestures at the door.

"Right. Of course. Um…" Marius looks at me, as if wanting to say goodbye, but he just gives a tight-lipped smile and walks briskly out the door.

When he leaves I feel like I can breathe again. It's a miracle Joly hasn't heard my heart pumping this whole time.

_He kissed me. He actually kissed me. _I try to contain my smile, but I can't, and I grin stupidly up at Joly, even letting out a girlish giggle. Oh good God, I never giggle.

Joly pulls the chair beside my bed and starts removing the bandages from my shoulder. I look away from it, not wanting to know how bad it is.

As he secures the new one in place, he leans over at me. "Eponine, can I ask you something?"

My breath is still high and quick from the shock, but I manage to nod.

Joly looks at the door, then looks back at me grinning. "Next time I leave, can you please not start making out with one of my best friends?"

I look at him smiling knowingly, and I can't help but collapse into laughter.

**I've been waiting forever to write this chapter! Sorry it took a while, but there was a site-wide problem where nobody could upload anything for like ten hours, so even when it was done…yeah you get the gist of it. Anyways, review and follow and all that crap. VIVE LA FRANCE!**


	8. Chapter 8

After about two hours, I start to get bored. It's not that I don't feel well enough to get up, but Joly said not to, and he did save my life. I should at least follow his instructions.

_Oh, well, a few seconds never killed anybody, _I think, trying to get my legs over the side of the bed without moving my upper body. After a few seconds of pain, I finally get my feet on the floor. I awkwardly push myself up with my right arm, since my other arm is close to a bullet hole, and stand successfully.

A small victory, but still a victory.

Of course I've been in Marius's room before, but I've never examined it so closely. His only window has a pretty good view of the street – now that I take a close look, he can see the ally that I sleep in from here. Not well, but it's in his vision.

I look away from the window and stroll around the room. There's nothing much, really – Marius might have a place to live, but he's not rich. His books are on a small desk in the corner, and his few sets of clothes are folded in random places against the wall. There are places to mount candles along the wall, but because it's the afternoon, they're not lit.

I hear a clang behind me, and I turn around to see Joly and Enjolras walk in. Well, Joly walks in. Enjolras more limps in, putting as little pressure as possible on his right leg, which has a bandage around it.

"Eponine, what are you doing?" Joly asks. "Get back in bed!"

I walk briskly back to the bed. "I swear, I've only been up for less than a minute, Monsieur."

Joly nods and goes into the corner to get his book off of Marius's desk, then sits in the chair next to my bed and starts flipping through it.

I turn my attention to Enjolras. "Hello, Monsieur," I say, smiling. I don't know why I'm so happy – maybe because seeing him just confirms that he's alive.

He seems to be thinking the same thing about me. "So, how did the whole 'protect Pontmercy' thing play out?" he asks teasingly.

I laugh, looking down at the tan fabric wrapping around my joints. "Well, he's not dead."

Enjolras's face falls, and a mist takes over his eyes. I bite down on my words, remembering all of the people that died at the barricade. Enjolras's friends.

"Um, I'm really sorry about…"

Enjolras just shakes his head, and I know I don't have to go on.

I let him be and turn back to Joly. "I haven't seen Gavroche yet. Is he okay?"

Joly looks up and nods. "When I told him you would be okay he went running back to the barricade."

"I saw him on the street just now," Enjolras confirms.

I breathe out. "When is he coming back?"

Enjolras flicks his ABC Society pin. "Well, you know Gavroche better than anyone; he'll come back whenever he wants to come back."

I nod. It does sound like Gavroche.

Joly closes the book and turns to Enjolras. "Well, I can make a salve-type thing right now and put it on your leg now, and it'll heal up by noon tomorrow," he starts, "but you'll have to stay here for the rest of the night."

"Why?" asks Enjolras.

"Well, it works best if you're stationary." Joly explains.

Enjolras nods, although I can read on his face that he doesn't have the slightest clue why that relates to anything. I really don't either.

"And why can't we just take it back to my place?" Enjolras asks.

"Because I have to inspect it every so often until I know you're fine, and I don't want to be walking between Eponine's shoulder and your leg all day," Joly says, opening the book to something that looks like a recipe.

Enjolras sighs. "Fine. But where am I supposed to sleep? You and Pontmercy have the two couches."

Joly gestures at my bed. "This bed is a double. You can sleep with Eponine."

Enjolras and I look at eachother, shocked. It's not that we're not friends, but…what would Marius think? He hasn't came up to see me since we kissed. If he randomly decides to come in and sees me sleeping next to Enjolras…

"Okay, fine," Enjolras says, cutting off my train of thought. He looks at me for approval, and I give up and nod. Marius probably won't be in until he…sorts everything out. I know what I feel, but he still has Cosette to think about…

Joly nods and stands up, taking his book with him. "I'll go ask Marius if I can use his kitchen. The ingredients are pretty simple, he should have them. I'll be back up in an hour or so with it."

Enjolras nods as Joly turns to leave.

Joly stops at the door and turns around. "Oh, and Enjolras, lay down now. And I almost forgot…"

Joly walks over to me and leans down to whisper in my ear: "Remember your promise not to make out with any of my…."

"OKAY thank you, Joly!" I say loudly, and he laughs. Enjolras looks at us weirdly, but lets it go as Joly walks out the door.

-page break-

"Okay, Eponine, you can look now," Joly announces.

He had been putting the salve on Enjolras's leg, which involved taking Enjolras's pants off. I had most definitely not wanted to see that. I turn back to look and see that Enjolras's pants are back on, but I can see the lump of bandages wrapping it. Enjolras has the most disgusted look on his face. I guess I'd have that look if my friend had spent the last ten minutes touching my thigh.

Joly puts the leftover salve down on Marius's desk. "I have to reapply it in the morning," he informs with his back to us.

"Greeeat," Enjolras says, shooting me a look of pure terror. I stifle my laugh.

Joly turns around, hearing the sarcasm. "Unless you want infection to set in," he says seriously. He struts out of the room like it's the best comeback ever.

Enjolras and I look at eachother and collapse in hysteries.

He sits up in the bed and puts his hands on his hips. "Unless you want infection to set in," he echoed in a deep voice that was so ridiculously unlike Joly that I collapsed onto Enjolras's shoulder, gasping for air.

By the time we both finally calm down, there's moonlight spilling in through the windows. It's pretty quiet downstairs; Joly and Marius must have already gone to bed.

"So…how've you been?" I ask. Possibly the lamest question ever.

He looks over at me seriously. "Eponine…all of my friends are dead and there's a gash in my leg filled with God-knows-what."

I nod, fiddling with the sheets. "I'm so sorry."

He inhales sharply. "You don't have to be sorry for anything. I dragged all of them into this. Everything is my fault."

I try to face him, but again, my shoulder restricts it, so I swing my legs enough to the side that I'm angled towards him. "You said so yourself, it's for the good of the revolution."

He sighs and looks at the ceiling. "I know, but I guess I didn't really think about what it would be like if they did die. I can't keep throwing these people into these situations."

I quickly turn to him, ignoring the pain. "The revolution won't die. You made a stand, and they won't forget it that easily."

He turns to me, and I don't see any of the strong leader Enjolras normally is. I only see pure sadness and vulnerability. Like a child lost in a wood.

"Eponine, nobody will want to come back, and I don't think I even want to come back," he says weakly.

I shift closer to him. "I'll come back."

He shakes his head and looks down at me. "No, you barely made it out alive."

I move my face so that it's only a few inches away from his. "I'll be loyal to the revolution," I say, flicking his ABC Society pin. "Just get me one of those pins."

He laughs quietly. "You'll be loyal to the revolution," he repeated.

"I will. I'll prove it," I retort, not knowing exactly how.

He leans in so close that our noses accidentally brush. "Then prove it."

Suddenly, the smiles are wiped off our faces. We both lean in, and our lips meet. Even though I shouldn't be comparing this to Marius, I can't help but give Enjolras props for not pulling away immediately. He locks me in a passionate embrace, and we both melt into eachother.

"What?" I hear from the door.

Marius.

We both whip our heads to the side, forgetting that our arms are still around each other. Marius stands in the doorway, looking lost. He seems to forget that Enjolras is there at all, and he and I stare at each other intently.

"It's not what it looks like," I say, pulling my arms away.

"It's really not," Enjolras added on, also pulling away.

Marius runs his finger through his hair and shifts his weight. "I mean, it's fine…it's just…"

He turns around and goes downstairs.

I can feel Enjolras watching for my reaction, but I just sit there, staring at the spot where Marius stood before. I can only imagine what he thinks of me. I kiss him and then five hours later I make out with his best friend? Slut, whore…all of the insults my father uses come back to me. Are they true?

Joly walks in unassumingly.

I look at him, searching for answers.

He looks me in the eye and smiles. "Eponine Thenardier, how many times do I have to tell you?"

**Dramaaaaa! I probably won't get another chapter in for a week or so, so I leave you with this IMMENSE CLIFFHANGER. Kissing twice in one day…oh 'Ponine, what will we do with you? Review if you liked it!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry this took a while! I've been busy with schoolwork. I promise that the next chapter will be up in at least the next two days. This chapter is going to be more comedy and Eponine-based than my lovely DRAMATIC MOMENTS (it's kind of my think to type "dramatic moments" in caps lock so you'll see that a lot).**

I turn to Enjolras, with my emotions on overdrive. "Enjolras, I'm so sorry, I…"

"No, no, I get it," he reassures me. "I am too. I guess I'm just too happy to see somebody from the barricade alive."

"Yeah, that must be it," I reason.

Joly shrugs from the door. "I'm alive, but nobody's making out with me."

Enjolras shakily gets up from the bed. "I'm guessing I need more of that medicine in my leg now?"

Joly nods, going over to the bedside table. "Yeah, go into the bathroom and run it under the water I already put in there."

Enjolras nods and limps out.

Joly turns to me, a smirk on his face. I sigh, knowing what's coming.

"So, are you planning on making your way through all my friends?" he asks.

_There it is, _I think. "Joly, I…"

"I can see if Lesgles would be okay with sleeping here for…"

"God damnit, Joly!" I say, full of frustration. "It was an accident!"

Joly looks even more amused now. "So you tripped, and then your lips FELL on his! That makes perfect sense!"

I cross my legs over the side of the bed. "What do you want?"

Joly wipes the smirk off his face. "Well, you're off bedrest, but the hole is still pretty deep. I want to keep you here until you totally heal."

I nod. "Okay. Why can't you give me the stuff you're giving Enjolras."

He shakes his head. "That stuff doesn't work on the upper body."

I try to make a "yes that makes perfect sense, of course" face.

Joly stands up and strides to the door. "Oh, and is that a no on Lesgles?"

I grab his book from the nightside table and throw it as hard as I can without destroying my shoulder at him. He successfully blocks it with his lower arm and closes the door behind him.

Since I'm off bed rest and Joly and Enjolras are busy, I swing myself out of the bed and walk down the hall. It doesn't affect my shoulder nearly as much anymore, and the thought hits me that I might have to leave soon. I can't stay forever; eventually my shoulder will heal. And then it's back to pickpocketing people, sleeping in the allys, and avoiding Father. Was it only two days ago that I was living that life? Now, it seems like an eternity.

I walk down the stairs, dragging my fingers across the burgundy and cream wallpaper that was there when Marius moved in. It must have been perfect and vibrant at one point, but now it was curled and ripped and faded.

The only other two rooms in Marius's house besides the bedroom and the bathroom are the small kitchen and the basement. The stairs lead into the living room. I've been in it a lot of times before, but it seems different this time. More colorful, brighter. I run my fingers over the two couches that were also there when Marius moved in, left by the previous owners. Whether they bought nicer things or couldn't take these out on the streets with them, I'll never know.

I turn around and nearly crash into something. I walk back a few steps and look up and find the eyes of Marius.

Oh God.

My heart threatens to choke me as it leaps up into my throat. He has an apple in one hand and looks like he hasn't been sleeping. His ABC Society pin is still on his jacket, and for the first time I see a tiny drop of blood on it. My blood? His blood? My head almost throbs as I look up at him, almost the same angle as it was at the barricade…

"Hello, Monsieur Marius," I finally manage.

He looks around him nervously. "Hello, 'Ponine."

I mentally smack myself for laying a hand on Enjolras. "Um, how've you been?" I ask lamely.

"Fine, fine. Well…" he glances up towards the second floor. "Fine." He's silent for a minute, and I know he's thinking of the scene he saw earlier.

_Damn you, Eponine, _I think, my cheeks flushed at the anger I feel towards myself.

"Would you like to sit down?" he asks.

"Sure!" I say too quickly. "I mean, yes…I mean…" I give up and sit down.

Marius sits down on the couch opposite me, obviously mulling something over. He turns the apple around in his hand, then changes position so that he faces me better. "So, um, about you and Enjolras…"

_Oh good God, no. Please no. _"There's nothing going on between me and Enjolras. I swear."

"Then what was…" he points up the stairs, suddenly less closed off.

"Um…" _Good question, what was that? _"I guess it was just that I'm happy to see him…alive…"

Marius nods, and I can tell he's unconvinced.

"It's just…there are so many people that I just keep expecting to walk through the door," I explain truthfully. "And then I remember…"

Marius purses his lips and looks down. "So that explains why you and I…"

_No. What happened between you and I was so much more than that. If all the men in the world dropped at my feet begging me to marry them, I would send them. I only want you to love me the way I love you. And yes, I gave you permission to love Cosette, but…I never said that I would stop loving you. And maybe I still want you to love me._

That's what I think, of course. What I say is simple. "Yes."

He sits in silence for a minute, and then gets up. "Well, I have to go see Cosette."

I jerk my head up. "What? When did she come back?"

"Recently. I didn't tell you?" he says.

"No," I say cautiously, preparing myself for the emotional blow about to come.

Sure enough, his face lights up like the sun. "I haven't seen her for days, what with you, Enjolras, and Joly here."

The moment I thought that we were sharing suddenly vanishes behind a cloud. I'm just an impediment to him? The baggage that prevents him from seeing his one true love?

"You can come too, if you want," Marius offers, seeing that I haven't responded.

"I think I'll pass, thanks," I spit out, pushing past him.

He is knocked off balance when I push him and he steadies himself against the wall. "Are you okay, 'Ponine?"

I turn back to him at the bottom of the stairs. "I'm fine. Go see your darling little Cosette. Enjoy her. Sorry I've been such a drag, keeping you locked up. I would have let the damn soldier shoot you if I had known it would be a handful."

"Wait, 'Ponine, that's not what I meant…" I hear him start, but too late. I run up the stairs past a very surprised looking Joly and Enjolras in the hall.

_To hell with you, Enjolras, _I think, even though none of this is his fault. The most private place I can think of is the bathroom, and I run in and lock the door behind me. The tears spill over before I can stop them. Just a friend. I was wrong to think that he thought long and deep about that kiss like I had. He probably went straight downstairs and started dreaming about Cosette. I kick the bucket of medicine on the floor and it splatters everywhere.

_Who cares if Enjolras needed that? Forget trying to figure out a way to stay here. I'm leaving as soon as I can, and if Marius has anything to say about that, he can take his sorry words and shove them right back down his throat. I'm never going to be good enough for Marius._

The full emotional effect of the words hit me, and I double over against the wall, my body racked with sobs.

That's how much I love him. It twists at me, it stabs at me, it destroys me. I feel literal pain at every other word he says, whether it's longing or anger or sadness. Pain is pain, but pain is also love.

Honestly, I can't tell if the pain is worth it after all this time.

**So maybe I lied. It's a bit dramatic. Anyways, I'd write out a huge winded rant about how much I love everybody that reviews, but I'm running out of creative ways to do it. Oh well, next time. For those of you that are worried, no, Eponine will NOT end up with Enjolras! And a huge shoutout to caligirlsd99 for saying that my last chapter literally made her laugh, because that seriously made my day!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ironically, Thespian24601 reviewed asking for Marius's POV, and that's the chapter I'm doing now! Thanks to everybody that reviewed, you guys pushed me to finish and post the chapter a little earlier!**

Marius's POV

"Wait, 'Ponine, that's not what I meant…" I try to tell her, but too late. Eponine runs up the stairs, crying.

Joly and Enjolras come downstairs, looking up after Eponine. Enjolras turns to me, shifting his weight onto his good leg. "Marius, what happened?" he asks.

I can barely shake my head and shrug as I keep my eyes on the staircase, wishing that she would come back down. "I…I just told her that it's been a while since I've seen Cosette…" I manage.

When I tear my eyes away from the stairs, I see Joly and Enjolras sharing a look. "What?" I ask.

Joly turns to me, shaking his head. "Marius Pontmercy, you are the blindest man I have ever known."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

Enjolras drops his head back and sighs at the ceiling. "You have no idea, do you?"

_What the hell is with all of these people? _"No," I say simply.

Joly steps forward. "You and Eponine…" he breaks off. "I don't know how to explain it Marius, but…I think that you…" He sighs. "Just go see Cosette."

Seeing that I'm not going to get any more out of him, I immediately turn for the door.

-page break-

"Wait, so how many places have you lived?" I ask Cosette incredulously.

"Around five. When I was six, we went to a house in…"

"Wait, and before that?"

Cosette looks down at her forest green dress. "Um, never mind."

I wonder what's so bad about it, but I let it go for Cosette's sake. She sent me a letter immediately when she returned, saying where she was and what days her father was out. I'd like to meet him, but she's so incredibly against it, saying that he wouldn't understand.

She regains her dignity and smiles up at me, leaning her head on my shoulder. "So, what's happened since I was gone?"

"Well, you know about…the barricade…"

She nods. When I told her I specifically told that I wasn't really up to talking about it yet.

"But," I continue. "Joly is still in my house, he's taking care of Enjolras and Eponine."

Cosette stiffens beside me and raises her head. The mattress of the bed we're sitting on shifts. "Eponine?"

"Yes, she was there when I first met you, remember?" I say. She had been right there; I don't know how Cosette couldn't see her.

She raises her eyebrows and laughs. "And she's in your house? Are you sure you wouldn't want to stay here for a while?"

I look at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

Cosette is obviously thinking of how to place her words. "Well, it's just…you might be friends with her, or acquaintances, but you're willing to let a dirty little street rat in your house for that long?"

I've never heard a single sentence that struck me to the bone like this one.

Cosette has never uttered a single curse or derogatory word since I've known her. I immediately get up from the bed. Who knows why, but I want to be as far away from her as possible right now.

She leans over my spot of the bed. "Marius, what's wrong?"

My insides blaze with fire. "You know very well what's wrong," I spit out at her.

She withdrawls, but it has no effect on me. "I really don't. Come back and sit down."

"I am not sitting, Cosette. I'm leaving." I say. My jacket is across the room, and I walk towards it quickly, but Cosette has already sprung off the bed and she steps in my way.

"Why?" she asks innocently. I can see in her eyes that she has no idea what I'm talking about.

I look her straight in the eye. "You obviously don't know Eponine. So she lives on the streets, so what? I've known her forever, and you have absolutely no right to call her those things. She is so much more to me than that."

Cosette shifts as I weave around her for my jacket. "What are you trying to say?"

I swipe my jacket up and quickly put it on. "You don't know anything about Eponine."

"I know that she screamed insults at me when she was a child and stood by while her parents beat me!" Cosette suddenly yells.

I stop in the doorway and turn around. "What?"

She doesn't move. "Before I was six, I lived with an innkeeper and his wife. They made me their slave and did terrible things to me. Eponine was their daughter, and she and her idiotic sister not only stood by, but teased me and kicked me and ignored me. I don't know what Eponine you know, but that's the Eponine I know."

The news hits me hard. No wonder they were looking at each other intently the night Eponine brought me here. I turn from the door and look Cosette in the eye, where there are tears gathering. "The Eponine I know is brilliant, beautiful, and caring. I guarantee you that if she met you right now, she would be incredibly nice. Eponine is so much more than a friend to me. She's the one thing that's helped me all these years struggling to get by, and I'll never abandon her."

The tears spill out of Cosette's eyes. "Do you love her?" she says in a barely audible whisper.

I'm so flustered that I can barely speak. _Do I love Eponine? No, I love Cosette. But do I even love Cosette anymore, after what she's said?_

"Marius," she whispers, touching my arm. "Stay."

I look at the spot that she touched. It doesn't feel the way it used to. It used to feel like a thrill, like it made me want to fall deeper in love with her, like…lightning.

Now there's nothing.

I yank my arm away and start out the door. "I've got to go. Goodbye, Cosette."

"Marius, please talk to me!" she cries in desperation, and when I turn back, she's got tears running uncontrollably down her face. What will my life be without her? I love – or possibly loved – her. If I marry her, I'm guaranteed a life of content, a life of love. If I go now, everything I've known will come crashing down around me. I might never find her again, or find a person like her.

Suddenly, I'm filled with renewed strength. "Goodbye, Cosette." I repeat.

She falls to a seated position on the stairs as I close the door behind me.

-page break-

I walk in the door to find Joly and Enjolras sitting on the couch, laughing with glasses of water. They stop when I come in.

"How's Cosette?" Joly asks.

I throw my jacket angrily across the room.

"That answers that," I can hear Joly whisper to Enjolras.

"Cosette…I don't think I love her. She said something about Eponine and I…I just…" I try to make my thoughts into words, but it doesn't work and I fall onto the other couch.

Enjolras smiles knowingly. What he knows, I can't tell. "So that's done?"

I shrug, leaning back. "Maybe."

Enjolras stands up, and I notice that there's no more limping. As if confirming my thought, he gets his jacket from the corner. "I'm well enough to leave now, so I'll just be going. Thanks for everything, Joly, and thanks for letting me stay here, Marius."

"No problem." I say, and Joly nods.

"Oh, and Marius?" Enjolras says at the door. I look up, and he mouths 'talk to Eponine'.

I nod, and Joly doesn't question anything as I go up the stairs.

I enter my room without knocking, and see the top of Eponine's head above the sheets. "Go away," a muffled voice says.

I sit down on the edge of the bed and wait for her to get up. When she does, her face is tear-stained and her eyes are red. "What, Monsieur." It's not a question.

I look at my shoes. "I don't know how to say this, but…I think Cosette and I are over."

Eponine looks at me incredulously. "Wh-what?"

"I'm not sure. But she said some…awful things." I avoid the fact that the things were about her.

Eponine leans over so her arms are balanced on her thighs. "So what now?"

"I…" I choke on my own voice. "I don't know. I thought I loved her, and now that's gone, and now I've lost you too." The minute the words leave my mouth, I know they're true. I've lost them both. It's too much and I let the tears I've disguised since Cosette's house fall at last.

I feel her arm tentatively wrap around me, and the other follows. Savoring the moment, I hold her close. However long we stay like that, I don't know.

"You haven't lost me," she says strongly, though her voice is now thick too. There's been way too much crying lately.

The words practically bring me to my knees, and I let myself fall on her for support. She holds me tightly, and all I can think of is how that night at the barricade, we held onto each other just like this. For support.

The moonlight streams into the windows after nearly an hour of this, and I know I'm not leaving. She must know too, because she pulls the sheets out from under us and then brings them back over us. One of her arms always stays around me while she does this.

"Thank you," she whispers.

This confuses me. Shouldn't I be thanking her? But then I remember Enjolras saying 'talk to Eponine.' All this time, she needed to have me by her side just as much as I needed her.

We stay like that all night.

**You know the drill, review! (But seriously, I can't help but have the cute moment of crying in each other's arms. It's never a good story without that.)**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm on my school break now, so I'll be able to get manyyy more chapters in! FYI, this first part in italics is Eponine's nighmare.**

Eponine's POV

"_Father, stay away from me," I say, but my voice trembles. He backs me up into the wall of the inn and smacks me across the face with his belt._

"_You'll do what I say this time, God damnit," he drawls, vodka on his breath._

_Suddenly, we're standing at the docks, surrounded by the prostitutes. I look down at myself and see a low cut dress, and my face in the reflection of the ice is smudged with makeup unattractively. Just like the sneering women around me._

"_You're one of them now," Father says behind me, smiling wickedly._

_I try to run, but I'm rooted to the spot by some unknown force. "Father, let me go! I told you I'm not going to do it."_

_I see the men coming down the hill, and Father catches a well dressed one by the arm and whispers something at him. I finally find the sense to run, but some of the Lovely Ladies grab me, digging their nails into my skin. I shriek at them and thrash from side to side, but they have me._

_The man Father was talking to comes up and looks me top to bottom. "Fifty francs," he announces. The women around me ooh and aah, and then I realize what's going to happen._

"_NO! No, Father, please! Please!" I scream as the man picks me up and drags me towards the hollowed out ships. "I WON'T DO IT! Don't let him do it!"_

_But Father just smiles and watches him. _

_The man presses me against the floor of the ship and lifts my skirt…_

"Eponine! Eponine, wake up!" I hear distantly.

I scream and shoot up. He's already done it. He's taken my virginity and my pride. I collapse into hysterical crying and refuse to look at the man next to me.

"Eponine, it's me, Marius. You were dreaming," he says next.

My breathing slows as I look around me, and my gaze comes to rest on Marius. He's breathing heavily, and I throw myself into his arms.

"It's okay, shh," he says softly.

"My father…"

"I know, I know. Shh, he's gone. He can't hurt you," Marius whispers.

I swallow hard. "I was at the docks, dressed like one of those Lovely Ladies…Father just SOLD me to them…"

"He's gone now, they're all gone. You were having a nightmare," Marius says.

I'm barely aware of how tightly he's holding me. "Don't leave," I say into his shirt.

"I'm not, I'm staying right here," he whispers.

I exhale loudly and close my eyes, resting my head against him.

"Right here," he repeats into my ear.

-page break-

"Aw, look at that," I hear a high voice drawl sarcastically from across the room. I sit up slowly in bed, as does Marius. Blushing, I untangle myself from him, radiating happiness. It's only diminished by the horror of the dream that's still haunting me.

Light is shining through the window, and I look in the corner and find Gavroche leaned up against the wall.

"Gavroche!" I cry excitedly, and get out of bed as fast as possible. I cover the distance of the room in a millisecond and fling my arms around him. He laughs and hugs me back.

"So, I hear you jumped in front of this guy," he gestures at Marius, "and the idiot soldiers shot one into your shoulder."

I look down at it, even though it feels much better. "Yeah, it's almost done healing. I should be able to leave in a few days," I say.

Marius shifts in the bed behind me.

Gavroche hears it too and stands up to him. "So, where's Colette?"

I'm suddenly interested in the blue wallpaper.

"Cosette," Marius corrects.

"Colette, Cosette, Courgette, makes no difference to me. Where is she?" Gav asks. I realize he must be thinking that they're still together and wonders why we're sleeping next to eachother.

Lovely, lovely wallpaper.

"Well, 'Courgette' and I are done." Marius says awkwardly. He looks over at me, but I keep staring at the wall.

"So…" Gavroche looks at me strangely.

"What?" I ask.

He points between Marius and I, raising his eyebrows. I quickly look at Marius to make sure he didn't see it, but he's busy making the bed. I look back at Gav and stare at him in that "shut up about it" way.

Marius straightens up. "I'm going to go downstairs. See how Joly's doing," he says quickly. "Um, 'Ponine, I…" he trails off and walks out the door.

I start to walk after him, but Gavroche puts his arm out in front of my waist. It hits me across my stomach, and he pushes me back until I'm sitting on the bed.

"Well, well, well," he says teasingly, dramatically pacing back and forth in front of me. I sigh and roll my eyes, which Gavroche doesn't notice. "Things move fast between you two."

"Gavroche…" I try to interject, but the fact that I'm smiling like an idiot prohibits me from sounding menacing.

"Three days and you're sleeping with your arms…" Gav throws his arms around me and tackles me on the bed, which makes me crack up. "…wrapped around eachother?"

I shove him off, doubled over laughing.

"How did that happen?" Gav asks, leaning against the headboard and putting his hands behind his head.

My laughter dies down. "Um…I might have had another nightmare…" I fiddle with my chemise.

Gav sits up. "Was it about Father?"

I nod. Even though Gavroche knows about how I have pretty regular nightmares, I still get embarrassed talking about them. Gav's gone through so much more than I have, and yet he's ten times happier and never has nightmares.

He stays silent, then gets up from the bed. "I'm going to go see Joly," he says nonchalantly. I can tell he's going to go interrogate Marius about what happened, though, by the way he quickly walks out the door.

I fall back on the bed, and the full effect of last night hits me. Marius and I. Sleeping together. Not like that, but he was willing to stay all night. And he never let go of me.

I laugh to myself, practically vibrating with pleasure.

**Marius's POV**

Joly looks through the stack of books he brought with him, reading the covers. I sit down on the couch across from him, seeing how frayed the fabric is. Of course, I can't afford a new one, but this thing could fall apart at any minute.

Joly straightens up, sighing. "Well, it's official, I left the book I need at my house."

"What's so important about it?" I ask.

Joly gets his jacket from the chair. "Well, I have something in it that might be able to get Eponine out of here faster than we originally planned."

I stand up suddenly. "Well, why do we need to get her out?" I say defensively, not sure why.

Joly looks at me with that same knowing smile everybody's been giving me lately. "I meant something to heal her shoulder faster." He pauses. "However long she stays is up to you."

Laughing to himself, he goes out the door.

"What is with all of France these days?" I say to myself.

"Good question, really," I hear a voice say from behind me. I jump in surprise, then see that it's Gavroche.

"Oh, it's you," I say.

"Oh, it's you," he imitates in a mocking voice. I sit down indignantly. "Very nice way to greet me. I hope you don't treat my sister that way."

"Of course I don't, I would never…" I almost start rambling, but I stop myself at that.

Gavroche stops smiling and sits down next to me. "She has those nighmares pretty regularly," he says quietly. "You can't tell her I told you that."

I think of all the times I left her in that ally, all the times she could have woken up alone, and mentally slap myself. I could have taken her in, or stayed with her more often…

I remember Gavroche sitting there. "I won't tell her. When she woke up I stayed in bed with her, and it might have helped just to have somebody there for her."

Gavroche smirks down at the fabric of the couch.

"What?" I ask. _Does everybody know something that I don't?_

He looks up at me. "My God, Marius, Joly was right. You are blind."

I jump up, finally pushed over the limit. "What the hell is going on? Joly knows something, Enjolras knows something, you know something, probably even Eponine knows something! What am I missing?" I practically shout.

Gavroche sighs, a mischevious glint in his eye. "So when does Eponine get to leave?"

I sigh. I'm never going to get anything out of anyone. "Why does she have to leave?" I ask before I can stop myself.

"What?" Gavroche says innocently, but still with that look in his eye.

"It's just…she doesn't really have to leave? She can stay a few more days…if she wants to…" I stammer, trying to cover up my outburst.

Gavroche nods, like "yes, please go on."

"I mean, I realized last night…just how alone I've been. Half of my friends died, Cosette's gone…" I stop for a minute. "Eponine hasn't left though, not yet. And if she walks through that door, she's…she's gone, in a way." I explain.

"Why? She'd still be your friend," Gavroche says, putting an unnecessary stress on the word 'friend'.

"I don't want it to be like that!" I finally say angrily. Then I realize what I just said and close my mouth quickly.

Gavroche gasps dramatically and gets up on the couch, standing with one foot on the arm so he has a brave warrior like pose. "I am agog, I am aghast!"

"What?" I ask.

"Is Marius in love at last?" he says teasingly.

"What?" I repeat, springing off the couch.

"I've never heard him ooh and aah!" Gavroche interjects before hopping down.

"Gavroche, you need to…you need to get your facts right!" I manage. _Am I in love at last? THIS is what everybody's talking about?_

"Okay," Gavroche agrees. "Then tell me that you don't love her."

The words, for whatever reason, make my stomach jolt. "Huh?"

"Tell me that you don't love Eponine in that way," Gavroche says nonchalantly, leaning back onto the couch.

"Fine," I say just as nonchalantly. "I…I don't love…I mean, wait a second. Okay. I…don't love…"

"Ha!" Gavroche barks triumphantly, then he skips out of the room.

I stare after him, but all I can think of is how I can't say it. Which only leaves one question:

_Do I love Eponine?_

**Thanks for all the reviews, I'm glad you guys like the story! I don't have any idea how many chapters it will be, so I guess I'll just keep writing. Anyways, if you review, I'll be sure to check out your profile, and if you have anything Les Mis I'll read it!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Back to Eponine's point of view! Sorry if I can't get as many chapters in as I normally can. My family's computer broke, so everybody wants to use my laptop for one thing or another. Apparently the fact that I'm trying to write a successful Les Mis fanfic isn't important anymore.**

Eponine's POV

I flip through Joly's book, humming to myself. It's starting to get boring, just sitting here all day. Yes, I'm in Marius's house, and yes, it's better than my normal conditions of living, but I can only analyze the patterns in the ceiling so many times.

I hear the door creak and I look up. Joly comes in holding a red book that I haven't seen before. "I found the recipe!" he announces.

"What recipe?" I ask, putting his book back in the stack. (I couldn't understand any of the medical-y stuff anyways.)

He immediately starts flipping through. "The recipe for the medicine for your shoulder. You might be able to leave by tomorrow!"

His words startle me. Leave? Suddenly all thoughts of being bored day after day fly from my mind.

"Oh, um…that's good," I lie, fingering the bandages.

Joly closes the book and starts for the door. "It's getting late. You should probably get to bed. I'll have the medicine ready in the morning," he reports.

"Okay," I sigh as he walks out.

_Leave? Go back to the sewers and my father? Oh good God, my father…I've missed almost three days of money. He'll kill me. Or worse, he'll just hurt me and let me live…and Mother won't do anything. Who knows where Azelma is, and I'm not bringing Gavroche back there. Maybe Marius will let me…forget it, no he won't. He can't. He…_

The door swings open and I look up from where I'm seated at the desk. Marius looks at me cautiously, and my heart starts to beat louder than it normally does. I stand quickly. "Hello, Mons…Marius," I correct myself.

He twists the doorknob back and forth, even though the door's already wide open. "Hi, 'Ponine," he says quietly. Even though he constantly calls me 'Ponine, I still get the little pang of pleasure in my chest when he says it.

I catch him looking at the book in my hand. "Oh, um, I got bored and decided to read one of Joly's books," I explain, blushing. _Why am I embarrassed? I shouldn't be, it's just reading._

"Nice," Marius mumbles. I put the book down on the table and clasp my hands behind my back awkwardly.

He coughs and turns to me. "So, um, I was wondering if…"

"Yeah?" _Oh God, Eponine, don't interrupt him. _

"Could I, uh, sleep in here tonight?" Marius asks quietly.

I practically fall over. "Um, well, I…"

"If you'd rather not, it's fine, I…"

"No!" I interrupt. "I mean, no, it's – it's fine. I was just getting ready for bed, actually."

"Oh, okay," Marius says, putting his hands in his pockets.

I blow out the candle in the corner. It's no longer a full moon, so there's only the barest hint of moonlight on the floor. I put my hands out in front of me to find the bed, but end up stumbling over the edge of the footboard. Marius reaches out and grabs my arm to keep me from falling. It's a good thing it's dark so he can't see the redness rising on my cheekbones.

We're not hugging like the night before, just simply lying next to each other. It's still nice, though. After I get over the rush of emotions from being so close to him, I somehow fall asleep.

"_Eponiiiine!" I hear someone whisper._

_I sit up. "Marius?" I ask, but he's sound asleep. I look around, confused, until I see a glint of light in the corner off of a glass bottle._

_A glass bottle in the hands of Grantaire._

_I look around myself, but no, I'm still in Marius's room. Grantaire smiles at my shock and strolls closer. Even in the wine bottle in his hand is only a quarter full, he's seems pretty sober. Or at least, he's walking in a straight line._

"_And how's the lovely barricade girl doing?" he asks casually, even though there's nothing normal about this situation._

"_Grantaire…how are you…how? You're dead!" I babble, scanning him from top to bottom. He looks exactly the same, but even though he was shot in the chest, there's no blood or scar._

"_Details, Eponine, details. Are you taking good care of my friend there?" he continues, gesturing behind me at Marius._

_I don't really know how to answer that question, so I just shrug. "I guess."_

_He smiles at Marius, who is still sleeping. "I never really liked the image of that girl who he was always going on about. Blonde, stunning, kind. She always seemed too perfect for him. He seems like he needs someone smart. Headstrong. Self-aware. Loyal." He casts a teasing glance at me. "Brunette."_

_I softly laugh, looking down in embarrassment. "How is everybody that...you know," I question. I can't admit that they're dead yet._

"_You didn't notice them?" Grantaire asks, pointing over his shoulder. I follow it to see Feuilly, Combeferre, Jehan, and Courfeyac leaning against the wall where Grantaire was just seconds before._

"_Oh my…" I start to say, but then I break off. There's no evidence of wounds on any of them._

_Jehan smiles over. He still has that small book of poetry in his hand, and the thought of how he would always carry it with him brings tears to my eyes. "Eponine, haven't seen you in a while," he laughs._

"_How are you all here?" I gasp, looking around and getting up from the bed. For a split second, I contemplate waking up Marius, but decide against it._

"_We had to pay somebody a visit," Feuilly explains like it makes perfect sense._

"_Why me?" I press further._

"_It would have been Enjolras, but he's just start going on and on about Patria," Combeferre groans, playing with his tie._

_I look around at all of them. They practically have auras of light around them. These boys could be the same people in the ABC Café just a week ago, planning their revolution with ink on curling paper. There's literally nothing changed about them._

"_Why are you here?" I finally repeat in a whisper._

_Grantaire takes my hand. "We wanted to let you know that we're okay now," he says plainly._

_His touch feels so real and immediate that I choke on my breath. The others nod, and I search them for answers._

_Courfeyac steps forward. "Will you tell Enjolras that I want him to keep fighting? Please?"_

_His question is so pleading, so child-like, that a few tears slip out of my eyes, and I nod._

_Jehan looks at Joly's medical books on the desk and reaches out to stroke the cover. "Give Joly my best," he whispers, more to the books than to me._

_Combeferre looks over my shoulder at Marius, then back at me. "And tell Marius that it's all going to be okay."_

_I have no idea what they mean, but I nod, agreeing to whatever they want._

_Feuilly steps away from the wall. "We have to go," he says, looking out the window like there's a carriage waiting to whisk them away._

_The words shock me. "What? No, no, you can't go! Don't leave!" I protest._

_Jehan shrugs. "We can't stay either," he says quietly._

_I try to compose myself. "I guess I know that. Well…goodbye," I sputter._

_Jehan, Feuilly, Courfeyac, and Combeferre look at eachother, then back at me. "Vive la France!" they cheer quietly in unison._

_I smile weakly. "Vive la France," I agree._

_They fade away just as quickly as they came in, and only Grantaire is left. He looks at Marius, still on the bed. "I'm glad he had the chance to live," he sighs._

_I nod, not sure how to respond._

"_They all asked something of you. Can I ask something?" he asks. _

_I nod. "Anything."_

_Grantaire looks me in the eye seriously. "Stay with him."_

_We both glance at Marius's sleeping form. _

_I raise my gaze back to Grantaire. "I will."_

_He lifts his eyebrows. "Always?"_

_I make it a promise: to Grantaire, to Marius, to myself. "Always."_

_He smiles and takes a sip from his bottle, then vanishes. The tears run freely down my face._

"Eponine, Eponine!"

I feel like somebody is shaking me, but that's impossible. Marius is asleep, and the barricade boys are gone.

I stir and sit up in bed. I taste saltwater on my lips, then realize that it's my tears. Marius is sitting up next to me, his hand on my shoulder. The sight of him makes me break down, and I throw myself into his arms.

"Was it another nightmare? Was your father there?" His voice is fiercely protective, and I inhale deeply, trying to calm myself down.

"Grantaire came to me. He had Jehan, Feuilly, Combeferre, and Coufreyac too." I manage.

Marius seems to believe every word I say. "What did they tell you?"

I look at him seriously. "Courfeyac wants Enjolras to keep fighting, and Jehan says to give Joly his best. And Combeferre wants you to know that…that it'll be okay eventually."

A single tear rolls out of Marius's eye when I say the last part. "What did they say to you?"

I remember Grantaire's exact words, the shiny glass of the bottle. "To stay with you."

Marius pulls me in close to him, and I whisper the last wish of the barricade boys in his ear.

"And they want all of us to know that they're okay."

I can hear him crying harder, and I break down the barricade I've built up in the past minute to conceal my emotion. The tears fall out of our eyes like rain.

**Review if you liked it! I'm trying not to get really emotional just writing this. I didn't ask to have all these deep feelings about 19****th**** century French people, but here I am. Imagine what Victor Hugo would think if he saw all of us today…I can only imagine…**


	13. Chapter 13

When I wake up, I immediately look over at the corner, but there's no one there. I look down at the hand that Grantaire touched, remembering how real it felt. There's no signs in the room that they've been here: no books opened, no chair out of place, not even any scratches on the floor. I feel like I should be crying again, but there's nothing.

Marius must be up already, because the sheets are overturned where he was sleeping and he's obviously not there. I think about seeing Joly downstairs. I should tell him what Jehan wanted him to know, but at the same time, I don't know how he'll react. It could help him move on, but it could also prevent him from moving on. I don't know why they came to me in the first place. They could have gone to Marius, or Joly, or even Gavroche. Besides the fact that Grantaire had something only I could hear, I'm not special in any way.

"Eponine! The medicine is ready!" I hear Joly call up the stairs.

_Oh good God, I forgot. I might have to leave today. _I look around Marius's room. Even though it's not mine and never has been mine, I've developed a weird sense of home here over the past few days.

_Stop it, _I tell myself. _This isn't my home. My home is…_ I think for a while, but nothing comes to mind. I technically live at my parent's inn, but I don't feel at home there. That leaves the streets, I guess.

"Eponine!" Joly calls up the stairs again.

I snap out of my trance. "Coming!" I yell back, and I dart down the stairs quickly, walking briskly into the living room. Joly and Marius are on one couch, and Joly is stirring something in a white bowl. Upon closer inspection, I realize it's a transparent green liquid with black specs.

"That's going to help me?" I ask incredulously, pointing at it.

"Yes, it's just some herbs and…other stuff," Joly murmurs, like he's avoiding something.

I raise my eyebrows, and he starts laughing. "Relax, only herbs. And some medicine I have in my storage." He stands up from the couch and walks over to his books, reading something.

Marius taps my arm and mouths '_Are you going to tell him?' _I look at Joly's back and shrug. I honestly don't know if I will. Plus, it's not an easy thing to work into a conversation.

Joly turns around for a split second. "Marius, can you take the bandages off of Eponine's shoulder?" he asks.

"Oh," Marius says, looking at me for approval that I'm really not in a position to give. "Yeah, sure."

I cautiously pull my hair away from my shoulder, and he starts to untie the knot of fabric. I practically shudder at his touch, but force myself to stop. _Normal girl, Eponine. He may not be with Cosette, but that doesn't automatically means he loves me._

I feel the last of the bandages fall away, and Marius inhales sharply and pulls away.

"What?" I ask, looking down at my shoulder.

_Oh my God. _Joly said the bullet didn't go in deeply, but it looks deep to me. There's literally a hole in my shoulder. A hole with dried blood the color of wine surrounding it is ripped into my shoulder.

"What the hell," I whisper to myself, unable to tear my eyes away from it. Marius watches my reaction carefully, but I'm practically immune to everything going on around me. "Joly?" I ask a little bit louder.

"Yeah?"

"There's a hole in my shoulder," I say stupidly.

"A really, really terrible looking hole," Marius adds on.

Joly comes over with a cloth with the medicine on it. "Really? It looks like it's healed up," he observes.

I look up in shock. "What did it look like when it was UN-healed!?" I sputter.

Joly widens his eyes and sucks in his breath. "Not that good."

I look at Marius, who has the same expression I must have – horrified.

I decide to look away as Joly puts the medicine-doused fabric over the bloody mess of my shoulder, then wraps it with new bandages. "A few hours, and it should at least be closed up. Then you should be free to go." He gets up to go clean out the bowl that the medicine was in.

Once he's gone, Marius looks at me with an unreadable expression. "What?" I question, scanning myself to see if there's anything off about me.

"You have to tell him, Eponine," he decides.

I look down at my shoulder for no reason. "But…what if it doesn't make anything better? What if it just makes him hung up on the fact that…" I don't continue.

"You don't have to tell him everything, but at least tell them that they said they were okay," he compromises. "Oh by the way, they had a message for me and one for Joly and one for Enjolras. Did they have anything for you?"

I remember Grantaire's words. _Stay with him._

"No. Nothing," I lie, fingering the bandage.

Marius doesn't seem to quite believe me, but he lets it go. "So now what?"

I point at my shoulder. "Now we wait a few hours."

-page break-

The transformation is literally miraculous.

What was a gaping, bleeding hole just four hours ago is now nothing more than a scrape. It looks like I just fell and took off a few layers of skin. There's no blood, no depth to the wound, and nothing terrible looking about it.

"Joly, you're a miracle worker!" I gasp happily, throwing my arms around him.

He laughs. "It's really no problem, Eponine."

Marius coughs from the couch, and I pull away quickly. Joly eyes me knowingly, and I quickly shoot him a look. "Can I do anything for you?" I ask.

"Oh, no, that's really not necessary. Well, Eponine, you can leave now." Joly looks over at Marius. "If you want…"

Marius looks at him oddly, but I pretend I don't notice.

Joly nods and heads for the door. "Thanks again!" I call after him, but he quickly exits.

"So you never told him," Marius intones from his seat.

I look back at him, sort of embarrassed. "I will. Just not now. He hasn't had a chance to process the whole thing because of me and Enjolras, so I'll tell him when I know he can handle it."

Marius nods, even though I can tell I'm not making sense.

I look at the door where Joly just left. The night is closing in, and there's a light rain falling. "I should probably get going," I admit ruefully.

Marius looks outside. "In the rain?"

I gesture at my shoulder. "A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now," I point out.

"That's true," Marius agrees.

I smile at the ground. "So…see you tomorrow?" I ask tentatively.

"Yeah," Marius starts. He kicks at the ground. "So…where are you sleeping tonight?"

I look around the room. I hadn't thought about it. Going home isn't really an option, but the gutter has never looked so terrible. "I don't know, wherever."

Marius nods awkwardly. "Okay."

I look at the door, then turn back. "Thank you…for letting me stay here."

He smiles. "Thank YOU for letting me live."

I giggle as a feeling of pleasure runs down my spine.

Suddenly the door jolts open. We both turn in shock to see a rain-drenched girl coming in, her blonde hair in wet strings and her red dress splashed with rain. She looks up with her large gray-blue eyes, and I draw in my breath as I meet her gaze. The same innocent gaze that dared to rest on Marius, that dared to cause him any pain whatsoever.

"What are you doing here, Cosette?" Marius asks.

She straightens up, staring me down with a menacing gaze. I tentatively step back, even though she'd never hurt me. Not with Marius here.

"Marius, we need to talk," she demands. For a second I see a flash of crazed panic in her eyes, almost vulnerable, but it quickly reverts back to that fake pleading gaze.

"Um, okay," Marius agrees. I can hear the slight fear in his voice, and my hatred for Cosette deepens.

She looks me over again. "Alone."

Marius looks down at me. "But, I…"

"It's okay," I interrupt. "I was just leaving."

Marius looks at me with wide eyes. I remember Grantaire's words: _stay with him._ But I can't do that now. As much as I want to attack that Russian nesting doll of a girl down right here, right now, he needs to sort this out himself.

I swerve around Cosette on my way out, carefully giving her a wide berth. Her piercing gaze follows me, clearly saying "You're not wanted here."

I look back at Marius, who's still frozen. _I'll come back, _I mouth once I'm behind Cosette.

Obviously Marius can't react without lighting the fuse on Cosette, so I turn out the door.

The rain is cold and harsh, but it lets me know that I'm still alive, still felling. There's absolutely nobody out at this hour. It's too cold and dark for all of the city folk and their expensive silk clothing.

"Why is she here?" I hiss to myself. Marius made it clear that they were done. And yes, he did show some regret, but is it enough for him to take her back? The false sense of security I've had in the past few days peels away, and I realistically look around me. Wet cobblestones, dark allys, not a soul in sight. This is my real life. There's nothing secure about it.

I think of how it would be if Cosette was never here. If Marius had just kept walking. Would he be next to me right now? Would he have even gone to the barricade? How has it only been a week? It feels like I've been in this situation for years on end.

_Stay with him, _I hear the voice of Grantaire echo in my head.

I don't even need to cry anymore. The rain that runs down my face freely can handle that much.

**Yes, we are back to the DRAMATIC MOMENTS! I know exactly where the story is going now, so I'd say it'll be done in two to three weeks! Shoutout to MissFiyeraba for giving me a review on like every other chapter of this story, it made me so thrilled to know that she liked it so much! Anyways, review and follow and all of that crap, you know the drill.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Back to Marius's point of view! There WILL be drama…you have been warned.**

Marius's POV

I can't help but wish Eponine had taken me out with her. She ran out the door after Cosette gave her the most horrid look I have ever seen upon a human face. Of course, she did say that she'd come back…but when? Will she just wait outside until Cosette hopefully leaves?

I don't blame Eponine for going immediately. I certainly would have. But still, I wish she had stayed. The last person I could possibly want to see now is Cosette. Anyone with eyes could see that the look she gave Eponine when she came in was pure disdain. I hate how terrible everybody is to Eponine. She gets enough of that from her father; she doesn't needs Cosette harping down on her.

_Stop thinking about Eponine, Marius, there's a more important situation at hand, _I tell myself.

Something about Cosette's aura of spite lets me know that this is not a time for kind greetings (not that I have any for her, but general politeness still stands). "What is it, Cosette?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"I see you two have been very cozy in my absence," she spits out, staring at the door that Eponine went out. Even though there's cruel hatred in her voice that normally sounds so musical, I can sense the vulnerability. The loss. I try to push down the fact that I'm responsible for it.

_She deserved it. She deliberately insulted 'Ponine, _I remember.

"And?" I say shakily, having no better comeback.

"Marius, I'm not here to change my opinion on Eponine. I'm not that girl that just lies to please a person," she begins while wringing out her hair. The water has made it more of a dull yellow instead of the normal color of light golden-blonde.

Hearing her mention Eponine makes me defensive. "So you walked all the way here in the rain to tell me that you haven't changed your mind," I reason.

"No, that's not it…it's just…" She steps closer. "I was wrong, Marius. I shouldn't have said that to you. Or anybody."

I have to give her points for apologizing. At least she has the good dignity to do that. But she can't just waltz in and expect it all to be okay. "Well, thank you," I reply awkwardly.

She continues to stand in the middle of the room, dripping water everywhere, looking almost crazed. She probably is crazed, considering she could have waited until the rain stopped.

"Is that all?" I add on.

Cosette starts to slowly pace. "I don't know why I'm here, really. I could have just sent you a letter or something, but…" She inhales deeply. "Marius, I realized on that night that…I think I really do love you."

_Oh my God, _is the only thought I can form. I sit down on the couch, avoiding her gaze.

"Since the night you've left, I haven't done anything. I sat on that bed and I thought about you. My father was scared, he didn't know what was wrong. I told him I was just feeling sick, and I snuck out tonight to come here," she says quickly, like it explains everything.

"What do you mean by all this?" I ask carefully, standing up.

"I miss you," she barely whispers. "I miss seeing you, I miss talking to you, I miss being with you. I came here to ask if you can forgive me, and if we can go back to the way things were before."

I take a minute to process. _Cosette still loves me. What will Eponine think? Wait, why is Eponine involved in this? Never mind, Cosette wants us to go back to the way things were. How were they? Was it only a few days ago when we were still in love? Maybe she wants us to go back to BEFORE before, when we were strangers. Or maybe she wants us to…oh my God, oh my God, where did Eponine go? _

"Marius?" she prompts, stepping forward.

I sigh, relenting. "Yes, Cosette, I forgive you."

The sun opens up on her face, and she runs across the room and hugs me, laughing.

I lean down and whisper in her ear, "But we can't go back to the way things were."

She stops dead in her tracks, like the life has been sucked out of her. I let go of her and go back to sit down on the couch, assuming that that ends the situation. One look at her, though, tells me that this is far from over.

"Marius, but…why can't you?" she pleads. Not in an annoying way, in a legitimate question way.

"Cosette…I thought I loved you, I did. But we never took the time to find out if we did for sure. People change, circumstances change…" I trail off.

She whips her head up. "Circumstances," she states accusingly, like it's the answer to everything. "What circumstances?"

_That's a good question, _I think. "Um, well…"

Cosette suddenly loses it. "I can't take this! Marius, either say you love me or say you don't! I can't keep going on with this back and forth! Thinking that you might love me, and then realizing that you never will! For the past few days I've been wondering what you would say when I asked you this and you don't even have the decency to give me an answer!" she shrieks.

I walk over to her furiously. "And you don't have the decency to bow your head and walk out with your pride! To walk out looking strong! Instead, you come back here and interrogate me! By circumstances, I mean that I was in a situation where I realized what I wanted, and maybe I didn't realize it until now!" My mouth isn't exactly connected to my brain right now, but I can sense that it's right.

"Realize WHAT?" Cosette screams.

"Something that I never knew, but everybody else knew! Everybody tried to warn me, and I saw the signs that it was real, but I was so confused about YOU that I just pushed everything aside! I'm done with my life revolving around my fear of your reaction, Cosette!" I admit, still shouting. "I know exactly what I want, I know exactly who I can trust, and you're not one of those people!"

She stops fighting. She simply stands straight and tall in the middle of my house. "You never answered my question."

"What question?" I reply scathingly.

She takes a few more steps towards me. "Tell me what you've realized."

I look out the door into the rain. Dark, cold, pouring rain. It's the same rain that ruined Cosette's dress, the same rain that fell on the night of the barricade. The rain has always been there, quietly coming down. But there's one other thing that's always been there.

I turn to Cosette, no longer afraid of her.

"I love Eponine Thenardier."

Once it leaves my mouth, I know it's true. I've always loved her. I've just been blinded by my friends, Cosette, life in general. That's why I cried over her dying body at the barricade, why I paced anxiously back and forth as Joly tried to help her, even why I suddenly got tounge-tied around her. Eponine has always been there for me, and I'm not leaving her again. Not this time.

Cosette's not crying; there's not even an inch of sadness on her face. She hasn't changed positions or facial expressions. "I know you do," she whispers.

I look at the ground, still reeling. "I'm sorry, Cosette."

She starts for the door. "No, I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone." Once her hand is on the doorknob, she turns back, practically searching me. "Goodbye, Monsieur Pontmercy."

I nod, unable to speak, as she runs out into the night. Through the window, I can see her calmly walking towards the direction of her house, opposite of the direction that Eponine ran.

_Eponine._

I forget all about my jacket, or anything else I might need in this weather. All I can think of is '_find Eponine' _as I run out into the rain.

**AND HE'S PROCLAIMED IT! (Side note: I literally burst into fangirl-screaming when I heard that the Les Mis cast is performing at the Oscars. This is pure perfection.) Review if you like it!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Back to Eponine's point of view, but I might switch to Marius halfway through. **

Eponine's POV

By the time I'm farther into a more familiar part of town, I'm shaking from the cold. Who knows where Marius is. He's probably already thrown himself back at Cosette. "That little bitch of a blonde!" I hiss to myself, kicking the pebbles on the street a few meters in front of me angrily. "How dare she even show her face after she caused him even an ounce of pain? He deserves so much better. He deserves…"

I don't even bother to say my name.

The rain does make the street look pretty, but I think of how much better it would look if Marius was here. Even if there was nothing going on between us, all I need is him here. Though I'm not proud of it, I was thrilled when Marius said that he and Cosette were done. Ecstatic. And yes, I felt bad for Marius for being sad about it, but at the same time…Cosette was gone. And now she's back and she's going to destroy everything I care about, everything I've lived for, and the only person I ever loved.

I picture Cosette and her stringy blonde hair when she burst in the door. If I was running in to confess my undying love for somebody, I'd knock first. Cosette doesn't even NEED Marius. She's got her rich and loving Father (something I had at one point in my life, but look what's become of me) and her fancy dresses. Love will come easily to her, too, with her natural beauty that she's all too aware of.

"Screw you, Cosette," I mutter, angrily stomping my foot on a branch. A loud cracking sound emits from it, and I suddenly hear footsteps behind me.

"Well, well, well, the princess herself," I hear a deep, drunk voice from behind me.

_Oh my God._

Terror seizes me from head to foot, and I stand paralyzed on the sidewalk, not daring to look up. I can sense his eyes burning into the back of my prominent ribcage. I can feel him pacing closer, smell the beer on his breath. He's angry, angrier than he's ever been. I know this situation all too well: don't move, don't talk back, and don't even breathe loudly. Anything could set him off.

"Hello, Father," I say slowly, without making eye contact.

"Little lady, staying with a man for the past four days," he drawls.

"That man is Marius, and how did you know about that?" I snap.

He laughs sarcastically. "I hear things through the grapevine. And you slept with him all this time and didn't get any money whatsoever?"

I feel my cheeks redden in anger. "It was NOT like that."

"Well," he drones, "unless you have miraculously gotten all of the money you've missed, I have plans for you, missy." He circles me, surveying me from top to bottom. I feel my breath shudder in my lungs.

"I…I…" I try to come up with some huge lie, but even drunk, my father can see through all of my thinly-veiled stories. I could run, but he wouldn't stop following me until I was captured or dead. "I don't have it," I admit, finally relenting.

Father seems almost pleased with this. "Oh, then we will have fun tonight, Eppy. You're going to do exactly what I say until you've made up all those missed francs. Deal?"

"No," I fire back.

My father's face rearranges itself into a sneer. "Very well. You'll do even more than what I say, then. Good choice. To the inn, m'dear," he snarls.

I again consider running, or trying some sort of self defense, but it's useless. I follow him across the street to the inn, noticing how he can't walk in a straight line. I tense my muscles as I think about the pain I'm about to experience.

Once we get in the inn, Father draws the shutters. Great. If he's doing that, then he's making sure nobody sees. Extra bad. Mother ignores us as we come in, stirring something on the stove. I don't dare acknowledge her or ask her for help. If anything, asking her for help would only make things worse.

"Little bitch you are, running off in boy's clothes and not coming back for four days. Thought you'd jumped off a bridge. Wouldn't care, but tell us beforehand next time," Father growls, sealing the latch on the shutters. His last sentence reminds me how little I matter to him now. I'm just a slow-moving source of income to him, and if I don't run smoothly, he smacks me until I speed up.

He turns around menacingly. I look at the ground, not moving. "So, Eppy, I'll give you the procedure for tonight. After I make sure you've learned your lesson, you're going to take a fun little trip down to the docks."

I jolt my head up, not afraid to look at him anymore. He's unbuckling his belt, and my nightmare comes flooding back. _Belt. Lashes. Docks. Lovely Ladies. Fifty francs._ "No. No, Father, I can't!"

"Why? Saving yourself? There's not exactly a line of people waiting at the door for you, Eppy," he sneers. The stench of beer on his breath nearly knocks me over. He fingers the belt in between his thumb and his index, and I know what's coming.

Blinding pain.

He snaps his wrist back and forth at the speed of light. I no longer think about the docks, or Marius, or escape. Just how much it hurts every time the leather hits my skin. It doesn't do any good to scream, but I grit my teeth and wince at every slap. Mother never turns around, not once. I try to crawl to the side to avoid a hit, but the belt strikes me on my back, bringing me to the ground.

I'd take this every day, though, if I never had to go down to the docks.

Father pauses, screaming in my ear. "Ya owe me thirty francs, you little slut! I've whipped you ten times, and I'll whip you until there's a bruise for every franc!"

Sure enough, there's twenty more slaps, the last across my face.

There's no pause, no time for me to think about running. His hands are around my wrists before I can protest. He cleverly uses the belt to bind my arms behind my back. I try slipping out, but it's cutting off my circulation and digging into my arms. A saw couldn't undo it.

"Where are you going?" Mother asks without looking up. _Now she cares._

Father smirks at me. "To the docks." He turns to me secretively. "I don't know the going rate, but you'll get me thirty francs. You hear me? Thirty. And I'll be making sure you don't leave that place."

I try to struggle from his grip as he wrenches me out the door, but his nails dig into my shoulders as he steers me out. Once we're in the street, he yells freely, "To the docks, little whore!"

For the first time, I dare to scream.

No answer.

**Marius's POV**

I run down the cobblestone streets after escaping my house. There's the slightest thought of Cosette lurking in the back of my head, but right now I need to find Eponine.

"Hello? 'Ponine?" I call. She couldn't have gone far; I've only been with Cosette for about five minutes.

Eventually I slow to a walk, checking in all of the allys. _What am I going to tell her? Am I just going to come out and say "Hey, 'Ponine, I think I'm in love with you"? Am I even going to tell her?_

I get into the part of town closer to where Eponine's father's inn is. She wouldn't be in there; she'd avoid that wretched place at all costs. I frantically walk back and forth down the section of the street, ice-cold rain splattering my face, screaming her name.

"Eponine." I whisper one last time. _Forget it, she's never coming. She's not here. _I find the ally she normally goes to and sit on the same crate that we slept on before the barricade. Was that only a week ago? I look up at the lighted view of her parent's inn. The shutters are drawn, and from the outside it looks like it could almost be homey. Cozy.

If only everybody knew.

I use the time to sort out everything. _What would things be like if I never saw Cosette? Would Eponine and I be friends, or in love? Would I have ever gone to the barricade? Oh God, she never would have been shot…_

I look up into the misty streetlamps. Maybe this situation is good. Maybe it brought us together.

There's a thudding sound from across the street, but I barely notice it. I realize just how alone I am right now. No Cosette, no Eponine. The only two people that have only ever been really truly there for me, besides the ABC Society members, are both gone. Cosette's absence is permanent, but where is Eponine?

I start to think of what it would be like if she was here right now. It's kind of idiotic, really. Pretending somebody's with you. But I pretend I'm talking to her, even though I'm really talking to myself.

"On my own, pretending she's beside me." I whisper.

The invisible Eponine nods, entwining her fingers in mine.

"All alone, I walk with her 'till morning."

Invisible Eponine laughs her high, musical laugh.

"Without her, I feel her arms around me."

Invisible Eponine does so, her fingers lingering on my collarbone.

"And when I lose my way I close my eyes, and she has found me."

Invisible Eponine isn't good enough anymore. The real Eponine should be here, instead of lost in the night, where anything could happen to her. I shouldn't have wasted any time when I realized I loved her. I could have just run out and left it at that, but no, I had to say a PROPER goodbye to Cosette. I grind my shoe into the cobblestones in anger. Eponine could be anywhere, and it's my fault.

A sudden slamming noise across the street jolts me back to earth, and I can't quite believe what I see.

Eponine.

But not a normal Eponine, or even a slightly different Eponine. I've never seen her like this. She thrashes wildly from side to side with her father shoving her down the street. Small sounds of terror escape her mouth. Her father has her hands bound behind her, and she struggles to get free. I draw in my breath, paralyzed. There are new bruises up and down her body. The fury escalates inside of me as I watch them, but my feet are rooted here.

"To the docks, little whore!" her father screams, obviously drunk.

I remember Eponine's nightmare about going to the docks, how terrified she was when she came to. _Do something, Marius, do something, _I think.

Eponine screams, a cry for help, before her father claps her in the jaw.

Even though it physically pains me to do so, I don't move. When they're far enough away, I run in the other direction, only hoping that I can get there in time.

**Hope I'm not killing you guys with the suspense toooooo badly :) anyways, not going to give anything away. Sorry! I have family in town, so I really don't know when I'll be able to post anything. I do know exactly what's in the next few chapters, however. Sorry if you just died of suspense, haha. Review if you liked it (or just express your rage that I have to post the next chapter ASAP in a review, whichever you prefer)!**


	16. Chapter 16

Everything goes by me so fast, in short flashes. I take every opportunity I can to throw myself to the side, to hopefully get my father off balance. However, his hand-eye coordination is impeccable, even drunk, and he reins me back in quickly.

_I can't go. I can't. I have to run, find someone, get the police, knock Father out…where is all of Paris? How does nobody see what actually happens here? The inspector never sees it, the rich passerbys never see it, even the innocent children never see it. Why is it me? _

I try to maneuver under Father's iron fist, but he reaches up and scratches my eyelid. An immediate flow of tears and pain come out of my right eye, and I close it tightly, trying to see how much time I have to escape. It's too dark to see anything, though, even with the streetlights. There could be a million people standing on this street, and I wouldn't see them. It's actually amazing how my father hasn't driven us straight into a wall.

"Father, let me go," I snap quietly.

"Listen, Eppy," he snarls in my ear. God, I hate it when he calls me Eppy. "I'm not taking no for an answer this time." His serene vocal quality, almost calm, makes me start shaking.

The scratch on my eye might be bleeding, but I don't care. Nothing is consuming my mind but my father and what's lurking in the future.

This goes on for some time. We stumble through the streets, I cry in pain, Father laughs. I keep cursing myself for getting myself into this situation, but there's nothing I could have done to prevent it. Of course, I could have walked in a different direction…no, none of this is my fault. I keep telling myself this until I hear him whisper those two fatal words in my ear:

"We're here."

I finally raise my gaze, and all the life is sucked out of me. I might as well have just fainted on the spot. Huge, decaying ships falling apart on the frozen ground surround us, their masts still poking up from the ruins. Looking closely, you can see how the Lovely Ladies hollowed out certain sections to form rooms – in fact, you can see how they even spread out a few thin sheets on the floor to serve as the beds. I start hyperventilating as I look around. Sure enough, men are lined up around the outskirts as the Lovely Ladies prance around in their low cut dresses, surveying them like prized possessions.

I try one last desperate attempt at getting away. "Father, anything else."

"Shut your trap and open your legs," he snickers. Frankly I don't find it very funny.

A well dressed man saunters over, as well as about five of the ladies, who eye me enviously. I shudder as I feel their gazes on me.

Father takes the belt off my arms and shoves me towards the ladies. "Hold her down," he commands.

I see my chance, but it's too late. Their arms, thin from starvation, close around me like a vice. They all possess a surprising strength. I try to free one limb at a time, but their grip is like coarse rope.

"What do we have here?" the man asks my father.

"Please let me go!" I plead, hearing my voice get high-pitched in desperation. The ladies respond by laughing.

"Where's your makeup, dearie?" one asks me snidely. "I've got some over there, we've got to fix this…situation."

Fire builds up inside me. "Sorry, I prefer not to dress like a whore!" I growl, spitting in her face. She simply wipes it off and laughs. Obviously she's been treated in worse ways. I should have known.

Father continues with the man. "She's willing to go with anybody," he notes, pointing at me.

"NO!" I shriek, ignoring the glances of other people.

Then man in front of me smiles, looking me top to bottom as I struggle. "This one's got a little fire in her, does she?" As he walks closer, I try to recoil, but one of the ladies has her nail in the middle of my spine, forcing me upright. "I like them with fire," he drawls.

He tries to touch my bleeding eye, but I swing my neck to the side so his hand only grazes my ear. He frowns down at me and kicks shards of ice and frozen earth at my legs. "Well, she's a little bit of a rebel, isn't she?"

Father actually looks worried. Not for me, of course, but for the fact that this obviously rich man won't want a thing to do with me. "Oh, she'll do whatever you want," he assures him.

"No, no I won't. Go away!" I yell at the man, whose face flushes angrily.

"You might think you're dissuading me, miss, but I like them feisty." He pulls away from my face. "Fifty francs," he announces to anybody that cares.

"No, no no no no no, no no!" I say quietly over and over, stuttering. The ladies ooh and aah at the offer, and again, my nightmare comes flooding back. The man there also bid fifty francs. I try to scratch the prostitute holding my left arm, but she just kicks the back of my knee sharply. My leg buckles, and I stumble forward.

"Very well," Father exclaims, beyond thrilled. "Eponine, up you go," he says lightly, gesturing to the ships.

"Please, Monsieur!" I cry desperately to the man, daring to look up at him.

The man smiles down at me. "Eponine, huh? Well, I'm Bamatabois. You may not know me, but a girl tried to fight against me sometime back. She would have gotten arrested if the mayor hadn't saved her hide. I recommend you not do that, Eponine," he whispers, dragging out my name.

He clamps down on my shoulder and the ladies release. Looking up, I see a few more ladies smoothing out the sheets in one of the makeshift rooms, and I realize all at once that it's happening. There's physically no way possible that I could escape them now. People surround me on all sides, some watching, some not. Father will be no help whatsoever in this situation. Nobody I care about is here. The rain is still falling horrendously from the sky, dousing me to the bone.

There's no way to escape, but I scream anyways. Loudly, clearly, high and afraid.

Then there's the gunshot behind me.

Bamatabois whirls around. "What the hell?" he yells.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" I hear. I know that voice. I will always know that voice.

I turn around to face Marius.

I can barely form any words, and if I could, there would be no words to express what I feel. Immense joy, security, love. I breathe heavily as I realize that Enjolras and Joly are with him, and all of them are holding guns, explaining the gunshot.

The gunshot.

I look down at the dead body of my father.

I gasp as I see the puddles turning red around his head. There's no way he could have survived it. His face is frozen in that same smirk, and I realize that he never knew what hit him. He died thinking that I would be going off to give myself up to the jerk beside me. He's dead. Gone forever.

I couldn't be happier.

Marius steps forward to Bamatabois, his voice a deathly whisper. "As for you," he laughs, gripping his gun, "get out of here before I get the inspector. And take your dirty hands off her."

Bamatabois slowly releases his grip on me, as if not knowing how to handle this, but shoves me to the ground at the last minute. I try to catch myself, but I fall, tasting the cold dirt in my mouth. Shooting pain goes through my right arm, and I can already feel the bruise forming.

"Fine," Bamatabois agrees. Then he turns down to me. "I'll find you, bitch."

Enjolras and Joly step in front of me, forming a barrier, and Marius raises his rifle. "If you do, I'll be waiting," he threatens, putting his finger on the trigger.

Bamatabois's eyebrows raise in fear. "Alright, alright, I'm going. I'm going. Hell with you all," he mutters, jogging away from the ships.

The boys stay in that position until he's much farther away, then turn immediately and help me up.

"Are you okay, Eponine?" Enjolras and Joly say at the same time.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," I assure them. There's a bleeding scrape on my arm, but that's the least of my problems.

Marius suddenly throws his arms around me, and I step back in surprise. "Oh God, Eponine, I was in the streets when he dragged you out, I saw you…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I didn't help immediately. I went to get Enjolras and Joly and I thought we could…"

"It's okay, it's okay," I gasp into his ear. "Thank you."

He slowly lets go of me, making sure that I'm still intact, his arm lingering on mine. I practically glow at his touch, despite the circumstances. Enjolras and Joly share a glance, which I pretend not to notice.

"Well, we should get going," Joly admits, raising his eyebrows at Enjolras.

"Right. So, you two are okay?" Enjolras asks tentatively.

Marius and I both nod.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind…" Joly points at the dead body of my father. "Because if you do, this is awkward…"

I laugh. "Trust me, it's fine. Ten francs my mother won't even care," I toss back. I prod my father's head wound with the toe of my shoe so that his face is pressed against the earth instead of sneering to the side. Wouldn't want that face haunting anybody else's nighmares.

Joly smiles. "Should we…um…get rid of…" he gestures at my father awkwardly. "If the inspector finds a random dead person here, they'll start scouring the city for who did it."

"Who cares?" Enjolras says, and he aims his pistol at my father and fires another shot, which enters his back. I jump back in surprise. I almost feel guilty about my happiness at my father's death, but I remember the last hour and all of the feelings melt away.

Joly reaches down and grabs the arms, and Enjolras grabs the legs. "We'll throw him in the river," he decides, and they carry my father away. I can't help but feel free of all my problems at the thought of my father being carried out to see by the current of the river, far away from where I am.

Marius turns to me slowly. "We should probably get the hell out of here," he hints.

"Right," I say, and I practically drag him out, eager to get away.

The docks disappear behind us, with the Lovely Ladies cautiously peeking out from behind the masts of the ships.

**Sorry if this got a little graphic-ish! Review if you liked/loved/hated it (actually, if you hated it, keep that to yourself please and thank you). The next chapter will be up as soon as possible! Oh, and I saw the Les Mis movie again with a friend that hadn't seen Les Mis before, but she does theatre. Yeah, she now ships Marius-Eponine and can't stop singing One Day More. I feel like I've accomplished something. **


	17. Chapter 17

Once we have finally seen the last of the docks, Marius cautiously touches the scrape on my arm. "Should we do something about that?" he suggests.

I look at the ground, almost embarrassed by his touch. "Oh, no, I'm fine. Thanks, though," I quickly reply. It has stopped bleeding already, and it looks clean to me.

Marius runs his hand through his hair, and I try to not smile about how unconsciously adorable he can be sometimes. "I probably should have asked Joly to take a look at it…"

"Marius, really, I'm fine," I assure him, successfully cutting him off.

He gives me a slight smile, but it disappears. "I just didn't know what was going to happen…when I saw…"

"You saved me. You shouldn't be sorry," I tell him, and he seems to let the matter go.

It's silent for a few seconds, so I look around at the surroundings. We're nearing the inn, but the lights are off. I have to remind myself that Father is dead, that he won't jump out from the door and ask if I've gotten the money I owe him. It'll probably take me a while to get used to the freedom. Anyways, the rain's let up considerably. It's still pattering down, but nowhere near as bad as it was at the docks. It makes the air take on a misty, cool quality. The sky, however, shows signs of the downpours coming back any minute.

A thought crosses my mind, and I dare to turn to Marius and ask him. "So…what happened with Cosette?"

Marius suddenly gets very red, and I think of all of the possibilities of what he might say next. _I told her to leave. I love her. We're getting married. We're going to stay friends. We're not speaking. I realized that I love her but I don't know how to tell her. I hate her. I can't live without her._

"She's…she's gone. She asked if we could be together again and I told her I can't," he admits finally.

All of my fears pour out of me, and I can barely hold back from jumping up and down. For Marius's sake, though, I nod. "Oh."

He looks up again, and I see no traces of pain on his face. "I'm okay."

I see nothing to lead me to believe otherwise, so I smile and we keep walking.

I stop short as a loud clap of thunder rings out overhead. Marius and I look up quickly and see short flashes of lightning in the gray clouds, and the heavens open up on our heads. Rain literally comes down in torrential buckets, immediately soaking through the just-dried portions of my chemise and hair. I stand there for a minute, confused as to how the weather can change so instantaneously, until I feel Marius grab my arm. I stumble a little bit, but he drags me under the small awning over the bookshop a few doors away from our inn, which successfully blocks us from the rain.

"Are you okay?" he asks suddenly, over the sound of the water smacking the awning.

I have to laugh at his desire to know. "Why wouldn't I be fine? It's just rain, right?"

Marius looks back out into it warily, and steps closer to me so he doesn't have to scream. "Yes, I know…but…"

"What?" I ask, intrigued.

He turns back to me, wiping the raindrops off his face. "Well…every time it rains these days…something bad happens," he admits.

I try to recount all of the events that have gone on recently. "Like?"

He sighs and looks me straight in the eye. "After you got shot at the barricade, it rained. While Joly was healing you and I thought that you were dead, it rained. When Cosette came, it rained. And when your father dragged you to the docks, it rained," he explains seriously.

I'm taken aback by the truth of it, and feel compelled to take another step away from the rain. I can see how Marius wanted to get out of it quickly.

"I just don't want anything else bad to happen to us," he whispers.

I tingle at the use of the word 'us', then quickly stop myself. He simply doesn't want himself or me to get hurt. That's all. Understandable, really, considering just how much has happened in just two weeks.

Feeling the intensity hang in the air, I go out on a limb. "Well, then, why don't we make something good happen?" I suggest.

"What?" Marius almost laughs, as if nothing good could possibly come of this.

"Yes," I say more confidently. "We'll make something good happen. In the rain. Right now. And then…well I don't know what will happen then, but it's a start, right?"

I know I'm way too enthusiastic, but Marius nods and smiles. "Okay, but what?"

I look out at the barren street, and a memory comes to mind. "Remember two years ago, when a man caught me reaching inside his coat pocket for money? And you were near me and he yelled at me?"

Sudden light dawns on Marius's face, and I can tell he remembers. "And we ran away from him."

"And he tried to chase us, but he could barely run," I chime in, laughing at the thought of the man waddling after us.

"And then we got all the way to the fruit cart and bought an apple each, and we went in the ally to eat it. But you –"

"Threw it at him when he finally walked by!" I finish, now practically doubled over.

"Right," Marius gasps, equally breathless. "But what does that have to do with now?"

I shake myself from the world of that day, one of the best days I can remember in my life. "Why don't we do that now?"

"Pickpocket a crazy man and…"

"No!" I giggle. "Why don't we just run down the streets? Just for fun?"

As soon as it leaves my mouth, I recognize the stupidity in the offer. Just as I'm about to say never mind, Marius gives me a smile. A real smile, one that I haven't seen since the day he saw Cosette. "Yes, let's do it," he replies.

I feel myself glowing at the thought of reliving that day. Marius doesn't know it, but that day two years ago is the only day that I'll never forget. Marius and I had been friends for five years. After I threw the apple at that man and he whipped his fat neck from side to side, sputtering, Marius and I had hurriedly ran into the shadows. We were both trying to stifle our insane giggling, and I made the mistake of looking up at him. It was in that moment, right there, seeing his freckled face so filled with joy, that one thousand bolts of lightning coasted through me at once. I never looked at him in the same way again. It was the day that I realized I loved him.

We step out into the rain. Its icy fingers lace down my back, but I don't care. "Go!" I scream, not caring who I wake up at this hour of the night.

We both take off running. I know this street so well that even in the dark and in the rain, I can run freely along it at any angle without any danger of tripping. The water repeatedly slaps my face, feeling like pure winter, but I could care less. I hear Marius behind me, laughing as hard as I am, possibly more. I slow down to let him catch up, and he takes me by surprise by taking my hands and spinning me in a circle, just like that night at Cosette's house. I shriek in surprise and throw my head back in the downpour. I don't think of my father, I don't think of the rain. I only think of this moment, right here, right now.

Running through the sheets of water, screaming and laughing. However long we do that, I don't know. Eventually, I see my opportunity to have a little more fun with this. I look at the cobblestones, concentrating on how to place it. When the right surface comes to me, I pretend to jab my toe in, then fake a fall on the street. "Ouch!" I gasp, hoping that my voice doesn't sound fake.

Marius sees and immediately runs over. "Eponine, oh god, are you okay?" he yells over the rain, offering me his hand to help me up.

I take it, letting the false pain stay on my face for a few seconds until I have a better grip on him. At the last minute, I give him a sly grin and pull him down with me.

He recognizes my joke as he stumbles onto the street, laughing with me. I breathe heavily from the running and the hysterical laugher that just keeps seeming to seize my body. We lie, facing the sky, in the middle of the street. To any passerby that might be wandering this late at night, we must look like delusional idiots. However, I could care less.

I roll over at the same time Marius does, and we accidentally end up inches from each other's faces. I slowly trail off on my laughter, and he does to. I remember the day we're recreating from two years ago. I looked up at him in the same way, at the exact same expression. This time…am I crazy, or is he looking back at me in the same way? _No, that can't be right. _I watch a raindrop roll gently over the bridge of his nose.

"Marius, I…I…" I start cautiously. _Maybe I should just do it. Tell him everything._

"No, Eponine," he says quietly. "I'm going to do this."

I can't possibly think of what he means, but I don't have time to. He leans in slowly and presses his lips against mine. The shock stops me from responding immediately, but my brain slowly comes back into focus as I kiss him back, wrapping my arms around his neck as his wind around my waist. I can only form one thought. _It's happening._

He pulls away, keeping his eyes locked on mine. I'm frozen, barely able to speak, even though he's watching for my reaction. To fill it, I stand up, and he follows suit.

"And by the way, Madamoiselle Eponine, I believe I was a little bit in love with…"

I don't give him time to finish. Instead I softly brush my own lips against his, entwining my fingers in his.

He wraps his free arm around me, and I do the same. "Come back to my house?" he whispers in my ear.

I feel like I should be crying, screaming, anything but being calm right now, but all I can manage is a simple nod. We keep our hands interlocked and walk down the street to his house, the rain washing away everything.

_Marius Pontmercy loves me._

I bite my lip to keep from alerting all of Paris.

Once at his house, he leads me in the door. We don't bother to make conversation. Instead, I follow him up the stairs that I have come to know so well, running my hand over the walls. The door to his room is at the top, and we walk in. It's virtually unchanged since I was here last, which was…this morning? Was it really just this morning that Joly was putting medicine on my shoulder? It feels like a decade ago at the least.

Marius throws back the covers of the bed, and we both get in without bothering to prepare anything. The candles are unlit on the walls, but I barely notice. The scent of fresh rainwater forms a veil around us, and I can hear the same veil pounding away outside.

We face each other, buried in the sheets. There's a million questions I could ask: when did this start, did he know that I felt the same way, what about Cosette. But I can ask those questions some other time.

"How long should I stay?" I whisper.

"How long _can _you stay?" he whispers back.

I find his hand under the sheets and grip it like a lifeline. "As long as you want me to"

"Forever," Marius says immediately.

Pleasure runs through me. "I think I can make that work," I tease before our lips meet again.

**Yeah, sorry it took me longer than it normally does, but I'm back at school! I am not responsible for any of you that may have died of suspense. Anyways, this is NOT the end of the story! I repeat NOT! I have a few more chapters that I'll be writing who-knows-when. There will probably be one up by the end of this week. Patience, my grasshoppers. Review if you liked/loved/hated it (I'm not going back to edit this one because I want you guys to read it ASAP, so if there are repeated words or grammatical errors you can deal)!**


	18. Chapter 18

**The first part in italics is Eponine's dream.**

_I wake up with my hand still in Marius's, deliriously happy. I almost shake him awake, but then I see outside the one window that it's still night. The rain has stopped, and there's an inexplicable full moon out. I don't remember that there was one tonight, but…_

"_Hey, 'Ponine."_

_I whirl around and find myself staring into the eyes of Grantaire._

"_Wait, what? Grantaire? How are you…again?" I stutter, getting out of bed. _

_He straightens up from his bent over position near the bed. "So…" he starts, pointing at Marius. "I see you took my advice into effect."_

_I blush madly and scuff the heel of my foot on the ground. "You could say that," I murmur._

_He laughs and walks closer to me. "Thanks, Eponine. Really, we were all worried about him."_

"_Why?" I ask._

_Grantaire shifts his weight. "Well...Enjolras can obviously handle himself no matter what. Joly has his medical school thing. But Marius…we always knew Cosette wasn't right for him. Something too unreal about the way he described her. Even when we were alive, I knew that he would need somebody to help him eventually. Marius could never be alone."_

_I finally grasp the meaning of what he's saying. "You knew that I would be perfect for him," I clarify._

"_If I could ask anybody in the world to stay with Marius, it would be you," he admits._

_I clasp my hands behind my back as we look at Marius, who's still sleeping. How does he always manage to sleep through this stuff?_

"_Thanks," I whisper, both to Grantaire and to Marius._

I slowly raise myself up onto one arm, looking around. I know I was dreaming, I do. But I can't help but think that Grantaire might be here, alive. Of course, that's too much to ask. It's barely dawn outside, but I can see the pink and baby blue on the horizon. I get out of bed slowly so I don't disturb Marius and tiptoe to the window. The streets have a glossy finish over them from last night's downpour. I push the window open a crack and inhale deeply, letting the clean scent of the rain-washed air absorb into me.

I strain to see the inn from here, but I can't. Every moment of last night plays through my mind in crystal-clear frames: being dragged to the docks, Lovely Ladies flitting around, running in the streets, kissing Marius. The last one in particular plays over and over, and I smile out to the street.

"Eponine?" I hear behind me.

I quickly close the window and turn around. Marius looks around the room, sitting up. "Eponine?"

"I'm right here," I say quickly, and Marius looks over, startled.

"Oh, I thought you left," he explains, obviously relieved.

I slowly stride over to the bed, sitting on the edge. "Why would I leave?"

He laughs at himself. "I don't know, really. But what if you did?"

I edge closer, remembering how Grantaire said how he couldn't be on his own. "I won't leave," I state firmly.

He reaches out for a lock of my hair. "Still wet," he remarks, twirling it in between his fingers.

I swear I could live in this moment forever. "Well, now you have a good memory, don't you?" I tease.

He grins at me. "The best."

As much as I wish I could just block out the rest of the world forever and stay in this room, I lower his hand from my hair. "I have to do something now," I admit.

Marius looks at me curiously. "What?"

_I'll tell him afterwards, otherwise he'll never let me go. _"Just to talk to someone. I swear, I'll be back in less than an hour."

Marius seems to be okay with this, and he nods. I don't say goodbye (I'll never say goodbye to Marius) and go out the door.

-page break-

The bell above the inn's door rings out as I step inside. It's dead quiet, considering the drinking area of the place doesn't officially open until ten. However, just as I thought, Mother's at the stove, stirring again.

She looks up at the bell. "Hey, we don't open until…oh," she corrects herself, seeing me. "Hello, Eponine."

"Father's dead." I blurt out.

Mother freezes. I stand in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. She simply keeps her feet rooted, not moving an inch from where she was when I came in.

"When he tried to take me to the docks…my…" I try to think of a lie but can't. "My friends shot him to protect me."

Mother finally regains her senses. "Oh."

"Yes," I say awkwardly. I expected her to not be terribly depressed, but at least showing a little concern.

She leans against a pillar in the room. "I was always afraid of him," she whispers. I'm not sure if she's talking to herself or to me until she turns her head up to mine. "The way he'd beat you. He'd do the same to me of course, not as badly, but the same."

This hits me in the chest, and I step back in shock. I always thought my mother was immune to all of it, when in reality she was just coping with it differently.

She chuckles to herself, her extravagant hair bobbing. "Tell your friends thanks," she finally finishes.

"I will," I reply.

"So," she starts quietly, "how've you been?"

I look up, confused. "You've never cared before."

She looks at the ground, almost ashamed. "I was afraid your father would hurt me more if I expressed concern, or possibly hurt you more. It was best to keep quiet."

Everything I've ever assumed about my mother flies from my mind. It all makes sense. She never really disliked us, she just left us alone. And when she would say the bruises on her arms were from something on a high shelf dropping on her…I feel a little dizzy.

"I'm sorry," I finally say, hoping that those words will make up for all the prejudice I put against her.

"Me too," she sighs.

Seeing that there's nothing left to say, I start for the door.

"Oh, Eponine!" Mother calls.

I turn around, my hand still on the knob.

"You can sleep in your room again…if you like," Mother stammers. I remember how I would constantly be afraid to sleep there, how I never wanted to be that close to the grasp of Father.

I smile at the ground. "Thanks, but, I'm staying with someone. For a while, anyways."

Mother looks at me suspiciously. "Someone who?"

I can't stop my smile from stretching wider. "Marius," I respond, and I practically bounce out the door.

"Who's this Marius?" I hear her call behind me. But I don't turn around. I'll just tell her next time I come. Somehow I know there will be a next time.

-page break-

I knock on Marius's door, even though I could probably go inside without hesitation. The door opens quickly, though, too quickly.

Marius looks down at me, slight worry in his eyes. I try to think of what could have possibly happened in thirty minutes, but he quickly pulls me inside.

"Eponine, uh, someone's here to see you," he whispers in my ear.

My thoughts immediately jump to my father, and I remember that he's dead. Marius shot him himself. Dead. God, it'll take me a while to get used to the no-fear aspects of life.

We get to the living room, and I rest my eyes upon the girl sitting on the couch. Her soft pink dress falls in perfect layers, and her light blonde hair in perfect waves. There's no hate or judgement in her eyes, and yet her gaze makes a chill run through me.

I make the first move. "Hello, Cosette."

**DRAMATIC MOMENT. But yeah, I always thought that Madame Thenardier was more of a bystander, even though yes, I know she was bad to Cosette. But with Eponine, I think that since you never actively see her yelling at her or abusing her, she was just trying to stay out of everything, whether for her sake or Eponine's sake. Anyways, that's my mini-philosophy. Review please! Oh and shoutout to the reviewer Grace (Guest) who gave me one of the best reviews I've ever gotten! I was so thrilled you like it so much!**


	19. Chapter 19

"Hi, Eponine," Cosette responds cooly.

I'm as frozen as my mother was when I told her Father was dead. She doesn't seem fazed at all by my reaction. Her large eyes have only pureness in them. I finally look at Marius with a questioning glance. He glances back and slightly shakes his head, showing how he doesn't know.

"Um, Eponine, I was hoping I could talk to you," Cosette interjects softly.

"Okay," I say slowly, looking around. "Here?"

"Oh, I was hoping in…private…" she mumbles.

I look at Marius. "Okay if we use your room?" I ask quietly.

"I guess…yeah," he agrees.

I gesture for Cosette to follow me. She stands up without a sound and does so. Once we get to Marius's room, she closes the door behind her and turns around as I sit on the bed. I look at her unassumingly, and she looks back smiling. Way too calm. Explosions are always calm before they detonate.

"Why are you here?" I ask simply.

"I want answers," she says back, slightly louder.

"About?"

"Everything. Starting with why we're still pretending that we don't know each other when I know you remember who I am," she snaps.

I stand up angrily. Does she really just get to waltz in here and accuse me of something that small? "Of course I remember who you are. I didn't want Marius to find out."

"I told him," she says, stepping closer to me. Her blue eyes flash with anger – and possibly regret?

I turn at her in shock. "You told him? Why?"

She starts to stumble over her words, for reasons that I can't quite comprehend. "I…I don't really know. I was…angry that he loved you and…"

"What?" I cut her off.

She sits down on the bed. "I was…jealous of you. Always was. Ever since you were a kid. You had all these beautiful dresses and your parents loved you so much…"

I look down at my chemise, noticing new rips in it. "Yeah, and look at where I am now."

Cosette looks up. "Well, maybe, but your parents are…"

"My father is dead." I state bluntly.

"Oh my god, Eponine, I'm so sorry, I…"

"Don't be. Really, don't. He treated me like he treated you, only worse, possibly," I say quickly. Cosette's eyes become downcast. "I mean, probably…I only meant that…"

"It's fine, Eponine. Really. It's been ten years," she practically breathes. It's that quiet.

I lower myself down next to her on the sheets as if we're friends. Not friends, really, but I can tell that my father left more than scars on her body. Maybe we could actually relate to each other if we tried hard enough, but then there would be a whole slew of problems stemming from that. I just escaped from the bulk of my problems; I don't need to leap freely into any new ones.

"I thought he loved me." Cosette alludes. Even though I have a pretty good grasp on who she means, I still turn to her questioningly. "Marius," she clarifys, and I pretend that this is news.

How do I respond to that? _Well, here's something you may or may not know: Marius kind of told me that he loves me, and I kind of told him that I love him, and we kind of might be together now. Kind of. (Wait, are we together now? Never mind.) So, it's kind of ironic that you're here, and awkward, honestly…_

She cuts my thought short by sighing. "But I also thought he loved you."

I gaze at her with sudden interest, which is terrible really, the fact that I only care now that she's said that. I try to compose my face into a more nonchalant, unassuming expression. "What?"

She laughs breathily and looks at the ceiling. "Something about the way he acted when he told me about you. It was different than anything else he mentioned before." Shaking her head, she looks down again, eyeing me suspiciously. "Did he tell you why he left me?"

I shrug, trying to recall something. But no, he never really went into detail.

Cosette angles herself towards me slightly. "I…and don't get mad. I said one mean thing about you, and everything just…drained from his face. He told me that I was wrong, and then left almost immediately."

Sudden warmth spreads through me. I try not to change expressions, though, for Cosette's sake. "Oh."

Surprisingly, she clasps my left hand with both of hers. "You're really a wonderful person, Eponine. I'm sorry about what I said, I am."

I'm so flustered at everything she's freely admitted to that I can barely answer. "It's…it's okay." Feeling the need to say more, I go on. "I was actually always jealous of you."

She seems to find this hysterical. "Why would you be jealous of me?" she wonders.

I try to hold back my laughter at how absurd that sounds. "You have a father, and he loves you, and you look like…" I gesture at her pink dress, which has a sheer, sparkly sort of fabric, draped over the pink (fashion has never been something I've cared about in the slightest) "…that, and ever since your father came to get you I bet you've never been hungry or sad or…"

"I was sad when Marius left," she points out, and I feel the small pang of guilt in my chest again.

"But…" Great. Time for the heart to heart, girly moments I've never been that good at. "…you can find somebody. You're nice, and you're pretty." It's blunt and stereotypical, but again, I've never been good at this. The fact that I came up with it is practically miraculous.

Cosette seems to take it, though. She gives me a half smile and stands up. "Eponine, please don't let me stop you if you want to be with Marius. I'll be fine with it."

_Wow, somebody recovers fast._ "Cosette, there's probably something I should tell you…"

"You're doing just that," she says expectantly.

I freeze and gape at her. "How did you…"

She shrugs. "Guess I can just read people," she jokes.

_Alarmingly well. _"Well….I don't really know where it stands."

She crosses her arms; not angrily, but more casually. "Do you love him, Eponine?"

There's only ever been one answer to that question. "Yes."

"Then, well, tell him," she says simply. I can tell it hurts her to give up Marius. Maybe she really did love him…

I feel the corners of my mouth going up into a half smile and play with my dress. Even though I don't need Cosette's approval, it feels somewhat good to have her be okay with it. Maybe just knowing that she won't come after me in the night is comforting.

"Thanks. I guess," I offer.

Cosette kicks the ground awkwardly, and I see that she doesn't have anything else to say. I don't either, and I'm about to show her out before she stops me. "Is that your only dress?" she questions.

_Oh, lovely, more fashion talk. _"Yes," I say sharply, almost angry at her. We can't all afford closetfuls of outfits, now can we? If we could, Enjolras and the barricade boys wouldn't have anything to fight for.

"I…um, I…" she brings out what looks like a square of folded fabric from behind her back that I didn't notice before. "I brought you this. Maybe as a peace offering?" She holds it out to me.

I take it and unfold it, and it drops down to the floor. I realize that it's a dress. Despite the fact that I never care to look in the window of the clothing shop down the street, I have to admit that it's overwhelmingly beautiful. It's a pale cream, simple dress: one layer of soft fabric with sleeves down to my elbows, not unlike what I'm wearing now. Of course, it's not ripped at all, though.

"Cosette…thank you, it's…beautiful," I stammer, unsure of how to take this.

"It was mine, but I never really wore it to begin with," she explains. Then she smooths out her dress and takes a step towards the door. "Well, it was…nice talking to you, Eponine."

I fold the dress and lay it on the bed. "You too," I say, and to my surprise I mean it.

She opens the door cautiously, and then looks back at me. "I was hoping we could be friends," she states quietly.

Cosette and I? Friends? I've never had a girl that's a friend before, really. And even if I did, Cosette doesn't pop into my mind immediately at the mention of it. Plus, we've always been on a strict basis of hating each other. It could never work; we're polar opposites.

I smile and nod. "Sure, I'd like that."

She grins, and I can see an evil thought come to her mind. "I'll distract Marius for a minute. Put on the dress so he sees you in it when he comes up," she says, almost wickedly.

I have to laugh at her excitement. "Okay," I agree.

She slips out the door, and I shake my head and laugh at the space where she was. A blonde, frilly, rich friend, but a friend.

I have to admit that the dress is very nice. Normally I'm repulsed at the thought of new clothing, but that's mainly because when I think of "new clothing" I think of "pink ruffles", for whatever reason. I slide the sleeves of my chemise down my arms, seeing that last night's rain has left me cleaner than I've ever been. Once the chemise is off, I easily step into the dress, marveling at how well it fits me. A friend that's my size – _every Parisian girl's dream, _I think sarcastically.

Once my arms are in, I turn and look in the reflection of the window, squinting. The dress actually makes me look healthy, more filled out, adding the slight curves hunger has taken from me. The skirt flares out slightly when I walk, but it brushes my ankles at a height that's long enough so it's still covering, yet short enough that it won't drag. For the first time in my life, I actually look at myself. Could I possibly be beautiful? Maybe? I don't need to be, or want to be, but…could I be?

I hear the front door close and realize that Cosette must have left. Sure enough, I hear Marius's footsteps on the stairs. I turn away from the window, not wanting to grow into a conceited girl who only thinks of how they look.

Marius quickly walks into the room. "Eponine, Cosette said you were still up here and…" he stops short as he lays eyes on me. I have a sudden urge to cross my arms over the dress, block him from seeing it somehow. Unexplained redness rises on my cheeks, and I force my arms to be still at my sides.

"Where did you get that?" he asks, walking closer.

"Cosette gave it to me. Just now," I explain, feeling his gaze wash over me.

He slowly reaches for my hand, and I take it unconsciously. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful," he says softly.

A radiant glow seems to encase me as I hear him say it. I silently thank Cosette for the dress, caressing the back of Marius's hand with my thumb. "Thank you," I whisper to him.

We both turn as there's a thud at the door. Marius moves to leave the room, and I follow him. By the time I reach the living room, he's opening the door to Cosette again. She hands him a letter. "The postman said this was urgent delivery," she say, obviously not understanding. Her gaze wanders over his shoulder at me, and she grins. "I was right, it does look amazing," she laughs, and then she's gone in a whirl of pink satin and blonde waves.

Marius breaks the wax seal and scans the letter quickly. His eyes catch at the middle, and he seems to go back and read it all again, more carefully. I don't change positions, waiting to see if it's something he wants me to know about.

He suddenly snaps the letter closed and reaches for his jacket. "Come on, 'Ponine, we're going to Joly's house," he says urgently, already opening the door.

I step a little closer, wondering why I'm so rigid with fear at what this means. "Why? What's going on, Marius?"

He stops, halfway out the door. "Joly has Gavroche at his house. He's sick…really sick."

All the wind gets knocked out of me, and I feel the floor connect with my head, the world going black.

**Tada! I won't be able to post the next chapter for at least four days, so don't expect anything. Anyways, I can't resist one more plot twist! I'm going to end this one in a few chapters, but I have a plan for my next fanfic, so when I'm done with this I'll post the first chapter of the new one (it's also Les Mis so I thought I'd tell everyone reading this). Reviews please!**


	20. Chapter 20

"_Gav? Where are you? I'm coming to find you!" I laughed, high and clear. I looked between the tables, under the counter, everywhere I knew he hid. Pausing to fix my bonnet, I heard a thump from the corner where the cabinets were. _

_I smiled slyly, creeping forward in my new velvet shoes. My fingers curled cautiously around the handle, and I yanked it open, crying out triumphantly. Trying to remain indignant, Gavroche pouted at my happy dance, pouted at my mother's slight chuckle at her children. However, he laughed with us when I spun him in a circle. _

"_That's not fair!" he shouted happily yet angrily. "My foot slipped and made that noise!"_

_I almost gave in at the adorable soprano quality his voice had, like so many four year olds. But my dignity remained intact as I straightened up. "Now you have to find me!" I yelled._

"_Keep it down, Eponine! Loudest nine year old in all of Paris, everybody's going to hear you!" she muttered, but I knew she was just saying that for the sake of saying it. She had to remain motherly in front of the inn guests, though, and motherly meant scolding occasionally._

_Gav scampered off to count. I'd proudly taught him how to count to twenty just so he could play hide and seek properly. I was a good big sister. I was going to be better than Azelma. I would be his favorite sister._

_I crawled under a table with a long linen draped over it and listened to him count. "One, two, three, four, five…"_

_The scene in front of me blurred. Blinding pain jolted through my back, and I heard a deep, rugged voice counting. _

"_Six."_

_My father cracked the belt against my leg._

"_Seven."_

_I told myself that that was tomato soup, not my blood, that had dropped onto the floor. _

"_Eight."_

_Azelma watched from the corner, having already received her share of the whips._

"_Nine."_

_When it curled free from my skin, the belt collided with a wine glass and knocked it halfway across the inn. Burgundy liquid and broken glass splayed about where it landed._

"_Ten."_

_I exhaled on the last whip, turning around to face my father, still crumpled on the floor. Finding this amusing, he sneered down at me. _

"_Fourteen years old. This is the torture you get now, but you count your blessings, damn it. Minute you get some decent looks about you, you're headed straight for the docks. You'll go there and make me my money in your sleep. Only way you get outta that is in my deathbed. Hear me, Eppy?" he snarled. "You too, Azelma," he added, flinging the belt across the room at where she stood. It hit the array of dishes behind her, shattering one as she ran upstairs._

_I glanced around his leg to the door, where Gavroche was still standing, frozen with horror. Without another word, he crept backwards out the door and into the night. _

_I blindly nodded to my father and scrambled out the door. "If you're to go out these doors, you're to transport money back in! Ten francs daily, girl! I don't care how you go about it as long as it's in my palm by sundown! Every day!"_

_I whipped my head back and forth, up and down the street. "Gav! Where are you? I'm coming to find you," I whispered urgently. He couldn't have gone far. _

_Sure enough, he was in an ally across the street. When I approached, he didn't move an inch. I lowered myself on the seat and flicked a tear off his cheek. "Come back inside, Gav, I won't let Father hurt you."_

"_I'm not going back inside, 'Ponine. Ever," he sniffed._

_Typical nine year old, I thought. "Come on, Gav, we have to go…"_

"_NO!" he spat with far more power than I thought he contained. "Never. I'm leaving. I'll find some way to make it out here."_

_I couldn't decide whether to take him seriously or not. "You can't, Gavroche. You can't just…I…what will I do without you?"_

"_I'll see you. I'll see Azelma. Just not them." He stood up, and I couldn't help but wonder how this came about. My nine year old brother was running away from home without an ounce of fear. "You can come with me if you want," he continued. _

_I looked back at the brightly lit inn. Had I known where I would be in three years, I would have jumped up, ran with him and never looked back._

_But when I glanced back in his direction, he was already running halfway down the street._

"Eponine…Eponine…" I heard distantly.

"Gavroche? Come back. Gav…" I flail into an upright position, almost colliding with Marius's forehead. Trying to place what's going on, I look around, my eyes resting on the letter in his hand.

_Gavroche. Sick. _"Where is he? Gavroche. I have to find him, I…I…"

"He's at Joly's house. Joly found him unconscious near the bridge. It was probably from the rain, or just him being out there for so long." Marius scans the letter. "At least, that's what Joly thinks."

I struggle to stand, tripping over the hem of my dress. "I have to go to him. Now."

Marius nods, already leading me out the front door.

Passerbys stare at us in bewilderment as we plunge through, not apologizing for any damage we do. Marius is walking as fast as he can, and I want to scream at him to just run, but there's a buzzing in my head that's prohibiting me to think anything but, "Gavroche is sick. Gavroche is sick."

We eventually come to a small house with a navy blue door. Marius raises a hand to knock, but I push past him in my haze of confusion and run in without warning.

"Joly?" I call, not caring about what he will think of me barging in. _It can't be too late. _

But apparently God has decided to bless me, because a cough that can't possibly be Joly rings out from upstairs. I follow it into a small room and see Gavroche lying vulnerably on the bed. None of the usual fight is in his stance, and none of the usual sparkle and wit is behind his eyes. I take in the scene as Joly looks up at me, watching my reaction carefully, which I barely notice. Gav attempts a half smile, but I can't smile back.

"What's going on?" I finally ask. It doesn't even begin to answer the slew of questions I have, but it's a start.

Joly clears his throat and slowly stands up in the way you would want to approach a menacing animal about to attack, and I realize that I must be the animal. "He might have pneumonia, or maybe the flu. It's hard to tell, so I'm trying to treat him with a general medicine," he explains.

"Hard to tell. What do you mean hard to tell?" I gasp, unable to tear my eyes away from Gavroche, who just continues to cough. Marius comes in beside me, but my attention has other places to be, for once in my life. This must have been why Gavroche never came back to check on me after that one visit: he was huddling somewhere in Paris, contracting some foreign illness.

Joly seems a little taken aback. "I mean…it could be one or the other."

"Which. One. Is. It," I articulate. "And how are you going to heal him."

"Eponine, I'll do the best I can, I…"

"And what if your best isn't good enough?" I shout suddenly. I haven't realized I was angry until now. "What if you can't do it, or the hospital can't do it, or nobody can do it? I'm not going to stand here and watch my brother get worse and worse!" I shriek.

Before I know what's happening, I lunge at Joly. He stumbles backwards hastily, and Gavroche looks up at me, shocked. Marius's arms close around me like a vice, and he drags me out of the room as I scream obscenities at Joly, who just stands there, looking scared and shocked. Gavroche looks about the same as Joly.

I continue to fight until Marius gets me into the next room and closes the door behind us. Not expecting him to let go, I drop to the ground, hearing a tear. Upon closer examination, I realize that the dress Cosette gave me so generously has ripped. For whatever reason, this tears me back to reality, and I quiet down, breathing heavily.

"Eponine, Joly is going to do everything he can. I promise you that, at least," Marius says quietly.

I hear Gav cough in the room over, a liquid-like, throaty sound. "And what if everything he can isn't enough?" I breathe out.

Marius sits beside me, grasping my hand. I barely notice it. "After Gavroche left, Azelma left, and we still don't know where she is. He would always come back to me, or I would go to him, but she…disappeared. Maybe she found somebody to live with, or maybe she's dead. But…Gav tried to help me. Azelma could have watched for the past three years, watched as I was beaten, or she could have not. Either way, she never did anything."

Marius nods, even though I can tell I'm rambling.

"We both looked for her for about a year before we assumed that she was gone, and Father would try to find out where she went from me." An edge creeps into my voice. "Beating me for information I didn't have…"

I can tell that Marius has never had to deal with this weight on his shoulders. by the way he looks severely uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I'll stop..." I apologize.

"No, it's okay," Marius says, even though it's not and we both know it.

_No use talking about what's dead and gone_, I think.

I get up slowly, Marius following suit. "I'm ready to go back in," I state. He looks at me worriedly, but I wave my hand in dismissal. "I won't attack Joly, I promise."

He doesn't laugh, which is good. It wasn't a joke.

Once back in the room, I step to the side of the bed, where Joly is seated, reading something. "I'm very sorry, Monsieur. I really didn't mean to…"

"It's alright, Eponine. I've seen people react more harshly when people they loved were in danger," he admits, but his face clouds, and I can tell he's thinking about the barricade. Marius must too, because he rests a hand on Joly's shoulder.

I move closer to Gavroche. "Hey, Gav, how are things?"

He tilts his head to the side, drawing attention to the cold sheen of sweat on his face. "Things are good, I guess. Not as good as they could be, but when have they ever been?" he laughs faintly. "You?"

I inhale slowly. "Well, you see, um, Father tried to take me down to the docks and…"

The fear in Gavroche's eyes is so real and immediate that it chokes over my sentence. He scrambled to get out of the bed, but Joly presses his shoulders back down. "Eponine, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay," he pleads, squirming against Joly's grip.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, Gav," I assure him, surprised at just how much he cares. "Nothing…happened."

He settles down, and Joly cautiously lets go of his shoulders, obviously knowing what I'm about to tell him.

"Gav…Father is dead. Marius shot him when he was trying to force me into bed with someone. Joly and Enjolras were there," I whisper to him.

Gavroche looks from me to Marius to Joly, who flips through a book to avoid eye contact. His face suddenly breaks out into a smile. "Good job," he says to Marius, who can't help but smile.

Joly closes the book. "Well, sorry guys, but it'll be dark soon, and Gavroche needs peaceful sleep for the medicine to work right. You're welcome to stay here, if you want."

"Can I?" I ask tentatively. Even though we've spent plenty of time together in the past two weeks, it feels slightly strange to just sleep in his house for who knows how long.

"I can stay too," Marius offers.

I turn to him, surprised. "You don't have to…"

"I want to," he whispers, and I smile.

"There's a couch and a chair in the living room. All yours," Joly says, turning back to Gavroche.

Marius and I turn to go, but Gav calls out, "Wait!"

We turn around. "Joly, can we put off the medicine for just a few minutes. I have to talk to Marius, alone," he asks. Joly looks at me and nods, then does the same to Gav. I glance at Marius and shrug before we leave the room.

**Marius's POV**

Joly and Eponine close the door quietly behind them, and I sit on the end of the bed. "What's been going on, Gav?"

He struggles into a more upright position, and I see in his face the effort it takes out of him. If it pains me this much to see him like this, I wonder how Eponine isn't breaking down crying. Then again, she's always been strong, and good at hiding her emotions.

"Marius, I ought to tell you something," he says seriously. "It's about Eponine."

I can't possibly think of what he could tell me; I know possibly everything about Eponine.

"Now, you can't tell her I told you this," he says. I nod uncertainly, and he exhales. "She might be in love with you."

I practically laugh at his totally serious expression. "Yes, I know," I state bluntly. "And I love her."

Of all the ways I could have responded to that, this seems to be the one that Gavroche was least expecting. He literally jerks back, eyes widening. "And…and…?"

"And I told her, and she told me," I compensate, but he still has a bewildered look on his face, more so now. "And we're together."

Gavroche awkwardly looks down at his hands. "Well…then, I guess we are done here. Thank you…Monsieur Marius…" he stutters, obviously highly confused.

I wait until I'm out of the room to laugh. Good thing Eponine told me, because she would have been furious. But part of me was curious: did Gavroche simply intend to inform me, or was he going to ask me to leave Cosette (considering he wasn't updated on the current events) and go to her? If Eponine hadn't told me, what would I have done? The selfish part of me said that even with Cosette there, I would have gone straight to Eponine…but would I?

I push the thought back down and go downstairs, where Eponine has already claimed the armchair. She looks up expectantly, playing with the torn fabric of her dress.

I widen my eyes in mock surprise. "You'll never guess what Gavroche has told me!"

**AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER IT'S ANOTHER CHAPTER LONGER! (Sorry I had to, it popped into my mind just now and now it's in my author's note.) Review if you liked/loved/hated, and I'm open to suggestions! **


	21. Chapter 21

**Eponine's POV**

My eyelids flutter open to silvery morning light coming through the sparkling clean windows. Everything in Joly's house is clean, as are the houses of most hypochondriacs. How a person can willingly face disease and blood and be afraid of sharing a glass at the same time is beyond me. Then again, I guess it's all centered around preventing sickness in any way…

_Philosophizing and you've only just woke up, _I think to myself. I drag the back of my hand across my eyes as the room slowly comes into focus. Marius isn't on the couch anymore, and Joly is nowhere to be found. The house is eerily silent; dead silent.

_Dead silent._

I bolt upwards and quickly walk towards the stairs. _Would you relax? Just because Marius and Joly aren't here, it doesn't mean Gavroche is…I mean, they could be getting breakfast. Or just be outside. Or…_

I crash into the room to, thankfully, all three of them. Marius and Joly stand at my presence, but I don't look at them until I acknowledge the rise and fall of Gavroche's tiny, frail chest. Sleeping, but alive. Even though I have every right to be concerned for the state of my brother, I blush as I turn to Marius and Joly. "Good morning," I say politely, and then, not giving them a chance to respond, "How is he?"

Joly clears his throat and glances at Marius. "Well, I believe it's pneumonia. And herbal concoctions aren't going to put a dent in it. I noticed some scrapes on his leg, something could have gotten into his blood…"

The one time I can understand Joly's medical terminology, it's about my brother's possible death.

"Anyways, I know a place where we can get the medicine necessary for it," Joly says.

I remember how to exhale and lean against the bed. "Oh, thank GOD. Thank you, Monsieur, I swear, I'll pay you back somehow, I…"

I trail off as I realize that Marius is shaking his head. "Well, 'Ponine…it's ridiculously expensive."

The words have no effect on me. "I can get it somehow. I can get a job, I can pickpocket again, those bourgeois idiots have plenty to spare, it's…"

"Eponine, twenty five hundred francs," Marius says.

I stop. Twenty five hundred. I don't have to be a medical student to know that Gavroche will need that medicine in the next few days, or it'll be too late. I could pickpocket every coat in all of France, and I could still come up short. It would be impossible to do it in that time frame anyways, really. The sleeping form of my brother stirs, and I look at his flushed face. I have to try, don't I? Marius and Joly combined couldn't pay that, unless Joly dropped out of med school and Marius sold half his things, and I would never ask them anyways.

"Twenty five hundred francs," I repeat stupidly, gripping the bed.

Marius lays a hand on my arm, but I jerk it back. If he's comforting me, it's because he thinks Gavroche will die, and I won't let that happen.

"I'll be back," I whisper, turning for the door.

However, I should have known that Marius can read my mind. "'Ponine, you can't just steal that much money without robbing the bank," he protests.

I whirl around. "Then I'll rob the bank! I'll strip these good-for-nothing people of all their possessions if it means that I can save somebody that is actually worth it! I would rob the king himself if it would save my brother! I don't care if I steal ten francs or ten thousand, I'm going to bleed them all in the end!"

Marius falls silent. "Eponine…you sound like your father."

The pain in my chest is real and immediate. It's true. 'Strip these good-for-nothing people', 'bleed them all in the end'. Possibly exact quotations. I'd like to blame it on what seeing Gav this ill has done to me, but can I? Perhaps it's true what they say about my family, particularly me: I'll end up a theif and a liar just like the famous Monsieur Thenardier. Stealing from the rich or the poor, marrying some person that doesn't actually love me-

I don't dare look up at Marius.

"You're right," I say. _You're better than your father was, Eponine. Marius does love you. Does he? Or is he just lonely from losing Cosette? _"I can't get the money that way. But I need to get it," I demand, still looking down.

Slowly, I walk out the door, and nobody questions it.

The bell on the door of the sterile white shop jangles loudly, an unpleasant sort of sound. However, it serves its purpose, and a relatively well dressed man comes to the wooden counter. "Welcome, Madame," he says.

_I'm no Madame, _I almost say, but I bite my tongue, reading the sign behind him. 'Paris Medicine Co.' This has to be the place that Joly was talking about. It's the only medicine shop I've ever seen. "Um, I don't know the name, but there's a medicine here that costs twenty five hundred francs." I explain slowly, realizing how uneducated I must seem.

The man leans on the counter. "Yeah, the pneumonia stuff. Powerful, but power comes at a high price," he mutters. "Same dosage rates go for every person, but it's got extremely rare ingredients."

"I need it," I state bluntly.

"Alright," he drawls, taking a glass bottle of purple liquid that looks absolutely vile off of the shelf. "Well, you know how much it costs."

I inhale sharply. "Um, I don't exactly have the money."

The man pauses as I mentally die. Somehow this plan isn't so brilliant when played out in real life instead of my head. "You think I'll hand over a bottle of the world's best medicine as charity?"

I nod, ignoring the burning sensation in my eyes.

The man's caring exterior melts away. "Look, girl, I don't know if you're planning on using this to drug yourself up or what, but if you've wasted all your money on other pills, I can't help you."

He returns the bottle to the shelf, and I hear him walking up the stairs. I consider leaping up to grab it and run off, but I'm not my father. I will never be my father. The purple medicine taunts me with its presence. Slamming my fist down on the table, I bite down hard on my lip to stop tears. There's nothing else I can do.

A brunette comes in with some small bottles with clear liquid. "Is everything okay?" she asks without looking up.

I let out a small laugh. "Why would it be?"

She freezes, glass bottles still in hand. At her sudden stop, I look up at her when she looks at me.

Oh my God.

The last time I saw her, she was dressed rattily and could be mistaken for a neglected broom rather than a human being. Even with the fact that she's wearing an actual dress, her form has filled out, and her brunette hair is longer and healthier, I can see the memory of a dirt-streaked face peeking through her now milk-white skin.

"Azelma."

I know she knows me, but she stands there gaping for at least a minute before speaking. "Eponine…why are you here?"

"Why am I here? Really? A better question is what are you doing behind that counter? And exactly how long have you been there, because I haven't seen you for three years," I rant. You'd think I'd be happy at the fact that I've been reunited with my sister, but this is the sister that decided to stand by and not show her face while Father beat me within inches of my life.

She looks down at the glass bottles in her hand. "I'm a live-in employee and cook for the family that runs this shop…" she says, like that explains anything at all.

I stare at her, bewildered. "But…how?"

She shrugs. "They didn't ask a lot of questions…"

I lean over the counter. "Well I have a few. You've lived a few blocks away from me for the past three years, and yet you never bothered to offer to take me in? Or give me any money to pay off Father? Or even show your face? It could be your fault that our brother is DYING!" I yell, stopping my rant once I realize that the man is still upstairs.

Azelma draws closer to me at the last bit. "Gavroche? What's wrong?"

"As if you care!" I spit, even though she looks like she does. "All I know is he needs that bottle-" I point up to the violet elixir "- or he could be gone by morning."

Azelma glances up at it. "The expensive one."

I laugh sarcastically. "It's expensive? Really? Yeah, twenty five hundred francs worth of medicine that he needs. And you know very well that if I had that money, I would be giving it to you right now and taking that."

Azelma doesn't take her eyes off the bottle, staring at it intently like it holds a secret. Suddenly, she puts the small clear bottles on the counter in front of me, and takes more bottles off the shelf around that area, also stacking them near me. "Take these out to the garbage," she instructs.

I watch her, confused. "Why?"

"Do it," she hisses, glancing at the stairs.

I don't know why, but I take the bottles to the can outside, making sure they break going in. Nobody questions broken glass, but fully intact medicine?

When I get back in, Azelma is on the floor wedging up a plank of wood. I'm lost as to what she's doing until she lays the purple bottle under the surface and knocks the board back in place.

Before I know what's happening, she grabs a stool from the corner and raises it over her head. Letting out a loud and high pitched scream, she brings it down on the shelf.

I scream too, possibly louder. Broken bits of pine wood, bottles of dried herbs and medicines, and blank prescription cards fly around the shop. Azelma takes a pill and throws it across the room, where it hits the bell, letting out that hysterical clanging sound. Although she did not look troubled in the least beforehand, she starts breathing heavily and plasters a scared expression on her face.

"AZELMA! Azelma, what happened?" I hear, and footsteps sound on the stairs as the man bursts into the room.

Azelma grips the table. "Monsieur, I tried to stop him! I did! He took some of the medicine, and I tried to stop him, so he used the stool to break the shelf! He's gone though…oh, he took all of the pneumonia drug!"

The man looks questioningly at me, but make sure that I look as scared as Azelma. It helps that some shelf pieces landed in my hair.

"I'll try to see if he's gone anywhere," the man says, and he takes off out the door, the bell clanging vivaciously behind him.

Azelma drops the act immediately. She kicks up the floorboard again, retrieving the purple bottle and laying it in my hand. "I'm sorry I left, but I hope that I've made it up to you."

She turns to the mess she's made, and without turning around, says, "Come visit sometime."

And then she exits the way she came in.

I clutch the side of my dress in a way that conceals the bottle in my hand until I reach Joly's house, walking in without warning. Marius and Joly look up from the armchair and couch when I walk in.

"Eponine, you have…wood in your hair," Marius says quietly.

I ignore that and pull out the bottle. "Go give it to him," I demand.

They both stare up at me, awestruck. "But…but how…how did you…" Joly stutters.

"Eponine, did you STEAL that?" Marius asks incredulously, standing up.

"No," I smile. "I had some help."

Joly looks suspicious, but doesn't question the medicine any further, taking it out of my hands and going up the stairs. Marius takes my shoulders and gently pushes me into the armchair. "Eponine, did you steal that?" he repeats.

I shake my head, because it's true, I didn't. Technically. "It was given to me."

"By?"

I picture Azelma in my mind, the person who I thought didn't care and still might not. The person who I hated for three years as I shivered in the snow, wondering where she was. The person with the chocolate brown hair that almost resembled mine, though hers was brushed and clean.

"An old friend," I finally conclude.

I can tell that Marius is about to question me more, but furious pounding at the door stops both of us from saying anything. Noticing that Joly is most likely busy, Marius gets up and goes to the door. A wood chip ensnared in my hair catches my eye, and I try to work it out by pulling the hair around it out of its knots. Strands break in my fingers, but I couldn't care less about the state of my hair.

I look up from the tangle and meet the eyes of three soldiers.

Quickly standing up, I yank the woodchip from my hair in an instant, bringing out a few pieces of hair with it, and fling it behind me. The men have no expressions, standing there blankly in their crisp red and navy uniforms, like the colors of the French flag, supposedly representing France. Of course, they represent less than half of what France actually is, with their stately houses and their pockets of enough jangling change to spare, which of course they never do. However, pointing this out could lead me to a prison cell, so I make sure that my mouth is firmly closed on this matter.

Marius cautiously comes around them and stands next to me. "Can I help you, gentlemen?" he says, and I can hear the raspy quality of his voice. The tone conveys one thought: _You killed my friends._ I reach over and take his hand, partly for comfort, and partly so he won't spring onto them.

"We would like to know if you have seen a man we are looking for," one says, pausing to fix his pristine white glove. It's all I can do not to scoff.

I hear Joly come down the stairs and turn to face him. He enters with a white cloth and an empty glass that has a faint purple tint to it around the edges, probably from the medicine. "Well, I gave him the medicine and…" he stops at the sight of the officers, and I see his posture begin to resemble Marius's. "Hello. Is there something you need?"

"Yes," says a relatively young one with light blonde hair. I wonder if he's fine with the fact that his team has killed several people around his own age. "We were looking for a man who must be charged with disrupting the peace of France-" again, I hold back sarcastic laughter… "-with his ideas on the government."

Marius's grip on my hand tightens, and I don't know what the motive is. The officer, however, continues. "We have his name and basic information, but he could have fled, so we are offering one hundred francs to anyone who has correct information on him."

"And the name is?" I dare to ask.

I haven't put the signs together: Marius and Joly exchanging a glance, 'ideas on the government', Marius's hand dropping from mine like it has lost its ability to work just now. But everything becomes crystal clear as the third officer, an older man who looks all too vengeance-hungry, steps forward.

"Enjolras."

**Sorry this took so much longer than it normally does! The next chapter will be up much faster. Oh, and by the way, I saw Matilda the Musical last weekend (if you have the chance, see it, it's amazing) and the guy who played Trunchbull played Bamatabois in the Les Mis movie! (The guy that shoved snow down Fantine's dress.) And I talked to him and got his autograph after the show! Anyways, review and follow and all that **


	22. Chapter 22

"You want…Enjolras?" Marius repeats in a low voice.

The soldier nods. "Do you know where he lives? Or where he might have gone?"

I can practically feel Joly and Marius trying not to look at each other so they won't give anything away. Keeping my face in the same expression (masking my emotions is a skill I have perfected over the years), I ask tentatively, "Why do you want to know?" Then I mentally pinch myself. _He's going to know that you know!_

Fortunately, the older soldier with salt-and-pepper hair and lines creased through his forehead doesn't seem to care. "Again, he disturbed the peace of France." When we don't react, he shifts his weight and continues. "He lead a rebel group that barricaded a street and took the lives of many innocent citizens. Of course, most of his filthy poor followers died too…" I sneak a glance at Marius and Joly, who both tense simultaneously, "…but words is that he didn't. If this is true, we need to take him in and make an example to the people of Paris."

Joly steps forward. "You mean…kill him?"

The blonde one nods like this is an everyday occurrence. "Publicly."

"You can't kill him!" I accidentally blurt out. _Shit._

"And why is that, Mademoiselle?" the third soldier, a brunette in his mid-forties, asks slyly. "Are you a friend of his? Did you fight on the blasted barricade with him?"

The blonde soldier grabs me by the arm and I wince. "Well, if we can't find him, you'll work just fine."

"Let her go." Marius commands in a low, threatening voice I've never heard him use before. It momentarily shocks me, and I forget to fight the man (which gives him enough time to tighten his grasp on me, making it harder to break free). Even Joly casts a questioning glance in his direction. However, it has no effect on the soldier, and he keeps his grip on my arm.

"Why? She's not denying it yet. If we can get a witness to say that she was never at the barricade, this will all blow over and you can have her back," the older soldier says. Then he turns to me and grabs my chin, lifting it to his eye level. (Joly grabs Marius by the shoulder and pulls him a step back when he flinches at this.) "Was there a witness to this? We'll let him speak to Javert."

"Inspector Javert?" I whisper. I would have been fine with lying to any of these soldiers, but if I got caught making up stories for Javert, I'd be escorted to the prison in a matter of seconds.

All of the soldiers nod in unison. I glance over at Marius apologetically, then straight into the eyes of the officer. "Yes. I was at the barricade."

They don't take any more time. Blonde jerks me towards the door, and the other two click their rifles into the ready position. They would never shoot me now, I know that. They're going to make an example out of me.

_They're going to make an example out of me._

Everything blurs in front of me. I blindly throw my weight left and right, not caring what I crash into. They can't take me out that door. I think I hear Marius screaming at them to let me go, and the soldiers screaming right back, and who knows what Joly is doing. The blonde soldier's nails are digging into me so hard that it's almost not painful at all. Out of the corners of my eyes I can see the rifles locked on me, and no matter where I move my head, they move with it.

"If you take her, you have to take me too!" Marius yells above it all.

The soldiers stop immediately, although I'm still staring down the barrel of the formidable weapons. "And why is that?" says the older one.

"Marius, don't," I whisper frantically. _Not Marius, not Marius, not Marius…_

"I was on the barricade too."

"You can't take him," I growl, thrashing to the side so that I face the brunette soldier. "I will NOT let you take him."

Joly begins having one of his panic attacks, but Marius hardly notices as he limply extends his arm, allowing the older soldier to take it.

I don't know which emotion is stronger, the terrible urge to break down crying, or the white hot fury at the soldier taking him. Both of those fuse together, though, and I just feel drained of everything. Somewhere through this, I think Joly extends his arm to the brunette soldier, because he ends up coming through the door with us.

Another soldier meets us outside. "We've got the address of Enjolras. Come with me, we'll get them all to the jail after we get him."

They're pushing us through the streets now, all in a horizontal line, holding our hands behind our backs. People pull out of the way as we pass, gasping in shock. I catch words like "revolution", "traitors", "execution". _They don't even need to kill us; we're already an example, _I think bitterly.

"Why couldn't you just let me do this," I hiss to the side, where Marius is walking along almost normally, like this is a simple stroll down the street. (Joly, of course, is hyperventilating.)

"Do what, get killed?" Marius scoffs. "I'm not going to sit back and watch you die, Eponine. I won't pretend like I wasn't a part of this and watch you die for it."

"I'm not going to let you get killed, Marius. That's a promise."

The soldier holding me wrenches my wrists further behind me, and I bite my lip. "Little romantics, I see. Well, now you'll die together. Tragic."

I fight back the urge to spit in his face as we approach Enjolras's door. The soldiers don't even bother to knock. Three burst in, and the new one stays back to watch us. "Don't even think about leaving," he orders.

"You're really going to do this," Joly says in disbelief with rising notes of hysteria.

The soldier nods. This one is young too, possibly even younger than the blonde one. He might even be nineteen, twenty at the oldest. He looks uncertain, like he doesn't want to do this either. "I have orders to help everybody to be taken in. You defied the law and you must be punished for it."

"With our death," Marius completes incredulously.

"You deliberately insulted the monarchy," the soldier drones on, like a rehearsed speech.

"You don't care that we might have other things to live for?" Marius interrupts.

"What could rebels possibly have to live for?" The soldier laughs with a laugh I can hear the youth ringing in.

I feel Marius's hand on my shoulder, gently turning me to face him. Before I can ask him any questions, I feel his lips against mine and his hands around my waist. I'm stunned for a second, but then I forget the stakes of the moment and kiss him back. Nothing else could possibly matter – not even that we'll be shot tomorrow. I can hear the soldiers inside the house, Enjolras's voice rising, Joly's panicked breathing, but it's all distant and unimportant.

Crashing at the door finally breaks us apart, and I take in the sight of Enjolras's arms being held back by the soldiers. The brunette has blood dripping out of his nose, and his free hand is stifling it with a rag. I should have know, really, that Enjolras would fight.

"Right then," the blonde says, passing the brunette a handkerchief, which he layers over the old one. Spots of red are showing through, and both soldiers eye Enjolras, who stares right back at them.

"To the holding cell?" The youngest one asks. He looks at the space between Marius and I, and I can tell he's rethinking it.

The older one shoves him a little, as if to snap him out of it. "To the holding cell."

**Sorry that this is later than usual! (And that there was really no good way to write this chapter. I wanted some stuff to happen and had no idea how to string it together.) Anyways, I recently saw the touring company production of Les Mis and it was INCREDIBLE! I'll have the next chapter up much sooner now that I've gotten through all that awkwardness. Review and follow!**


	23. Chapter 23

I've seen my father in a prison cell enough times to know how it works. Of course, we were always there to concoct some lie to get him out of the cage (I was always beaten by the Patron-Minett until I agreed to play the part of the emotionally wrecked, desperate daughter while they spun up some story to show that my father had been framed), and this time there's no bail. This is no punishment; this is an unpleasant inn where we'll stay until they're ready for us.

They shove the door open and prod us in. Enjolras, surprisingly, obediently walks over to a small bench in the corner and sits down like it's a couch in his own house. I remember his willingness to die for the cause and realize that this is just different path to the same destination.

Joly is clearly unwilling to touch anything in the cell at all, and examines the thin layer of brown coating a drain in the middle of the floor. _Why would a prison cell need a drain? _I stupidly think. Then I catch sight of the whip hanging from the wall just outside the door, stained with the same brown color. _Oh. _Marius follows my line of sight over to it, and his eyes widen.

"We're going to assume that you won't resist," one soldier says (I stopped looking at their faces a while ago), "so we'll just check on you every now and then." It's sick, really, how it sounds like we're actually hospital patients that need checkups.

"Until tomorrow," Enjolras confirms. I study his face carefully, but there's no apparent anger. The overwhelming urge to smack him eats at me. Of all the times he's tried to rebel, how can this not be one of them?

"Until tomorrow." The soldier repeats.

Boots click-clack across the damp stone floors. Another door slams shut.

"Well," I hear. Marius, Enjolras and I all swivel towards Joly, who has been scanning the walls more than an arm's length away, surprisingly detached from the situation. "We're all going to die before they even take us if we don't find away to clean this place. The least they could do is scrub it down before people come in, really."

"Joly," Marius pronounces slowly, "it's a prison cell."

"And?"

"And I doubt cleaning it is the last thing on these people's minds."

I can almost feel Joly's disgust as he recoils away from the façade. "Oh, wonderful. Then we'll all catch tuberculosis or get blood infections and before you know it, we'll all be…"

"DAMN it, Joly," I finally cut him off. "It's not already bad enough, is it?"

He stops talking, but I tell that his mind is still reeling about the grime. Silence penetrates the cold air for a while, but then Enjolras shifts in the corner.

"Marius, why did you tell them that we were involved exactly?" he asks.

I laugh and cough at the same time when I see Marius's face. "And what makes you think I did it?" he sputters, flustered.

Enjolras raises his eyebrows.

"I'm serious!" Marius continues, looking at me. "Eponine told them that she was involved, I only told them I was involved after that!"

"Oh, so EPONINE told. That makes perfect sense," Enjolras says sarcastically.

"Actually, I did…" I volunteer.

All the eyes fall off Marius and on me, which is a lot considering the three to one ratio. Nobody speaks, and I scuff my toe on the floor, flicking up black dust. "They were already looking for Enjolras…I...I didn't think it was fair that he should be the only one…"

They all stare back, dumbfounded.

Enjolras speaks first. "Why." It's not a question.

I can sense that my explanation does not suffice for them. "Gavroche was upstairs…they would have searched the house…and he wouldn't have denied it."

Enjolras steps away, pulling Joly with him. I can tell that he doesn't think that this is a good enough reason. _Well, look who's upset about dying for the cause now._ Marius watches them, and then turns back to me. "Eponine, I'm really…"

"I could have escaped, you know," I snap.

"What?"

"If you had just let me go to the prison, I could have picked the lock and gotten away. Now I've put you, not to mention Enjolras and Joly, in danger." I explain, mad for no reason.

"Eponine, this place is under guard for every hour of every day. There's no way you could have gotten out." He says.

"Then you underestimate me," I sigh angrily, turning around.

"Are we really going to do this now?" He pleads with me, moving so that he's back in front of me.

"When else?" I ask.

"Eponine, if we can't get out in time…" I try to re-convince myself that I'll get everybody out when I hear him say it, "…I don't want you to be mad at me for anything. I just want…to fit everything we possibly could into the time we have left. It's all we really can do." He trails off.

He's right, although I'd never admit it. I've said for practically half my life that I would die for just one day where Marius loved me. Here I am, having more than one day by far, and I'm already squandering it. Marius tentatively takes my hand, and I simply let him. There's nothing else to say.

The twelve hours pass by quickly. Light dances across the wall horizontally until it gets sucked out of the room altogether, leaving nothing but a stone gray surrounding us. Nobody sleeps. I decide that Marius was right, and during the night, we tell each other everything we possibly could. He goes into a little more detail about his dad, how he died before Marius could even get a chance to meet him. I finally tell him exactly how my father progressed from my idol to my nightmare, something I had tried to hide from him as best I could in the past.

All night, I can tell Enjolras and Joly are watching us. Occasionally, Joly looks out the window, giving us any information he can about what's going on outside. In this area of the city, people get drunk every night, staying out until the morning sun peeks out from the trees. It's ridiculous, really, how people can just wander around above, so self-centered that they can't see the people below their feet, about to be shot through the chest.

The door creaks open when the clock chimes six, right when Joly reports the crowd gathering outside the prison. We all stand simultaneously, staring back at the youngest soldier.

He nods.

**Well, THAT took a while. I was working on an Enjonine one-shot in the middle of this, so that's why this was posted later. (The one-shot is published on my profile– read it pleeeeease?). Review as usual!**


	24. Chapter 24

Four posts. Rope. Officer. Musket. Crowd.

Everything I see comes in short little flashes; I'm aware but not quite retaining the information. Every time I look at the gun it's like seeing it all over again, an endless loop of information that plays back as we are guided to the platform. They've decided to let us have our hands free until we are bound to the posts.

How generous.

The crowd is actually huge, for such a "low-key" event. Maybe I'm insane, but four revolutionaries getting shot in the chest doesn't appeal to me at all, whether I'm a spectator or the one being shot.

Enjolras is the first in line, being the leader of it. They've practically lined us up in order of importance: Marius, me, Joly. (I don't understand how I'm before Joly, though, considering he helped plan the revolution for months and I was involved for about two days, maybe less.)

I scan the crowd for anybody I might know, but there's nobody. I didn't bother to ask the guards to send a message to anybody. Mother will just assume that I've run off with Marius or something, and Gavroche…word will reach him eventually…

I force myself not to cry. I will not let the National Guard see any weaknesses, any cracks in my surface. They will not take me down while I'm weak.

Of course, just last night I was planning on not letting them take me down at all, but guards are literally everywhere. A snake of red and navy twists around the prison steps, around the edges of the street, even some sprinkled throughout the crowd. Anything as small as a simple jerk in the wrong direction would get me seven bullets through my skull.

The posts come into focus, as do the lengths of rope knotted to them. Enjolras's soldier is tying his wrists in, and I can already see the harsh knots cutting off his circulation. He doesn't move, though, even as the soldier yanks the rope with unnecessary force, making him stumble back slightly.

From the elevated steps, I can see just how massive the crowd is. I'd be surprised if anybody in Paris was still at home. The bourgeoisie, the peasants, even the students are packed among them. There's something surprisingly similar about all of them, but I can't quite place it. They're not familiar faces, they just all look somehow united.

I decide that it must be the lights playing tricks on me.

Hearing those clicking boots, I glance to the side. Marius is already bound to the post, and seeing him makes my heart ache. There's no way I can take a bullet for him now; only a few meters separate us, but it might as well be the Seine River.

I'm half considering just running at him, no matter how many shots they fire. If I'm definitely going to die, I want to die with him, with my hands in his, with his lips on mine…

I feel the rope cut into my wrists and grit my teeth in pain. _Don't make any sounds, _I think. Sounds equal satisfaction for these men, and that's the one thing I will never give France.

Soon enough, they're done with Joly and the man has stepped to the front and his musket is aimed at Enjolras and we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die.

"Vive la France!"

I whip my head towards Enjolras, as do Marius and Joly. He looks back at us like he thought we said it. Even the soldier who had had his gun trained on Enjolras's heart lowers it momentarily and looks around.

"Vive la France!" My eyes find a man in the front row of the crowd.

"Sir, you are disrupting the-" the musket soldier starts.

"VIVE LA FRANCE! VIVE LA FRANCE! VIVE LA FRANCE!" The crowd has inexplicably taken up the chant. All in unison, they begin taking off long coats. I realize now that that was how they all looked similar: everybody was wearing a coat to cover themselves.

Soon enough, everybody in the crowd is crying the chant of the revolution. As coats fall to the ground, I see something pinned on everybody's chest: the barricade rosettes.

The crowd descends into complete chaos. People dive at the soldiers lining the property, tearing at their clothes with simply their hands. Guns are ripped away from the soldiers and fired at the owners. Women with knives come up on the prison steps and begin to work our hands free while the soldiers that are managing to fend off the advancing people start to fire at random.

Rope slides away from my hands and the woman behind me drops the knife to the ground. "Run! Quickly! Take them with you!" she whispers urgently.

I have the overwhelming urge to hug the stranger. Looking out at the people of France, I realize that this is exactly what Enjolras wanted: the people taking a stand. The soldier that would have shot us lays dead on the steps, almost peacefully. Half of me feels sorry, and half of me feels the need to laugh with relief.

I look to my right where the woman is cutting Marius out. Once his hands are freed, he runs to me and Joly, kissing me quickly. "Let's get Enjolras and go to Cosette's, she lives somewhere around here!" he says desperately. Joly nods and turns to where Enjolras stands, then goes extremely white and starts stammering under his breath.

I immediately wish I hadn't looked.

A single glance is all I need, but the image of the bullet hole gaping in the middle of Enjolras's chest is going to be etched forever in my mind.

Marius, however, can't stop looking at the scene. He might be crying, but my lungs are hammering too loudly against my ribs for me to hear anything besides the still-screaming people in the square. Have any of them even noticed yet? I turn my head away, trying to catch my breath, while Joly runs over to see if he can do anything.

"Marius, they –"

"I know."

My breath shudders in my chest as I look out at the people, still rioting. "Do you think he…do you think he saw everybody…?"

Marius tries to shrug, but it's more of a shiver. "I hope he did."

Joly comes back much too soon. He doesn't give us any frantic orders, no list of medicines to find. There's just an imperceptible shake of his head, and I'll never say it out loud, but Enjolras is -

I want to cry, but somehow I can't. There's a simple, dull sadness replacing everything that only barely subsidizes when I think of how he must have died with complete joy, staring out at the people who he has inspired.

I inhale. "We have to go. Any survivors are going to immediately target us if we stay," I decide.

I don't give them time to nod, just get away get away get away. I tell myself that we'll give Enjolras a funeral, find his parents somehow, any siblings…but that's going to be later, and this is now.

Everything passes in a fuzzy sort of way. At some point, we knock on Cosette's door, who says that her father is away on business tonight and that of course we can all stay here. She doesn't ask what happened, but tells us that we can sleep anywhere we want.

Marius and Joly go out the back door at some point, and I don't follow them. They knew their leader much better than I did, and I don't want to be in their way.

As soon as the door shuts behind them, Cosette comes out from the kitchen. I stupidly think about the fact that I'm still wearing her dress, and that it must be ripped in millions of places and covered in dirt. _Prioritize, for God's sake, there are more pressing issues at hand, _I tell myself.

Cosette sits down on the couch next to me. "Eponine, what happened?"

I can't form coherent sentences right now to save my life. I must manage to get the story across though, because Cosette gasps and stares at me with fear and wonder and misery.

Somehow day fades into night. Joly and Marius come back in, and of course none of us can sleep at all. Joly paces the room until he finally snaps that it's incredibly stuffy in here and briskly walks out into the garden. At some point I end up in Marius's arms. Neither of us cry, or talk, or even move. After hours of simply sitting and having two halves of me at war, I finally allow myself to admit it.

Enjolras is dead.

**Sorry if I ripped your heart out. (If anybody's interested, I recently started a new Enjonine story, so check that out on my page if you want!) Review/Favorite while you can, because the next chapter is the LAST ONE! **


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